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Transcript Miles Dombrovski feels like he gets the rest he needs… “If I feel like I’m going to be fine, I can just go to bed at midnight and I can be OK for the next day.” But like many college students, Dombrovski’s midnight bed time, might not be enough… “I definitely want to try and get more hours of sleep, but it’s kind of hard.” However hard it might be, a new, University of Minnesota college-student health survey suggests making that extra effort to get more sleep, might be worth it. “This is one of the first studies of nearly 10,000 students throughout the state of Minnesota that really looks at health behaviors and health status indicators and how that links to their grade point average.” Edward Ehlinger, director of the U of M’s Boynton Health Services, says the survey points to a number of behaviors, like not getting enough sleep, as health factors that correlate with low grade point average. “Drinking too much, smoking or taking drugs …most would assume those behaviors correlate with low GPA’s. This new study, suggests otherwise less harmful activities, like not getting enough exercise, might also be to blame.” “…or if you spend time, in excess, on a computer or TV screen, that also negatively affects your grade point average.” And Dombrovski knows plenty of college students who fit that description. “Like my roommate, he wakes up and checks his Facebook right away, people …we check it habitually.” To improve the situation, awareness is key …and Ehlinger says this is where parents, faculty and especially health services like Boynton can step in a make a major difference. “They can talk to their students about, ‘ya know, you should plan your day a little bit more’ you should encourage them to exercise, to get enough sleep…” And since today’s college students are tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers and business leaders, Ehlinger says everyone should work to encourage this new range of healthy behaviors. “We really want our young adults to be very successful, because that means out society will be successful in the long run.” For the University of Minnesota, I’m Justin Ware |
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