Freshmen gain new freedoms and responsibilities as they enter college and exit the routine of high school.

But among these freedoms and responsibilities lies one commonly overlooked factor that has the ability to hinder their health and productivity: sleep.

Adolescents and young adults, including college students, are some of the most sleep-deprived groups in the United States. With disorganized lifestyles, demanding coursework and the desire for a satisfying social life, college students’ sleep patterns are often pushed to the back burner with detrimental effects, according to the Journal of American College Health.

Danielle Morse, sophomore in elementary education and special education at Northwest Missouri State University, suffers from sleep problems on a weekly basis.

“I have trouble getting to sleep and I usually wake up a couple times in the middle of the night,” Morse said.

Stephen Grant, sleep specialist at the Iowa Sleep Disorders Center, said students should be concerned about the amount of sleep they get.

“Sleep is intimately related to learning as well as emotional and physical wellness,” Grant said. “If you are tired, it is hard to learn.”

Grant said sleep helps to consolidate memory and studying as well as facilitate adequate concentration and attention to learning.

“College is a time of intense learning, and memory consolidation is critical for academic success and achievement,” Grant said. “Believe it or not, the human brain is still developing well into our 20s. Sleep is critical for neural development.”

Morse said she believes her sleep problems impact her academic performance throughout the entire semester.

“Sometimes I’ll fall asleep while trying to do homework and I won’t get it done,” Morse said, “or I’ll doze off while studying.”

Mary Carskadon, diplomat for the American Board of Sleep Medicine and professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, said young adults need nine hours of sleep each night; however, most receive only seven to eight hours.

Lack of sleep can hinder performance in many areas of life. Academic, social, emotional and physical performance can be affected and even driving skills can be impaired.

Carskadon said 55 percent of sleep-related accidents involve individuals younger than 25 years. Grant said sleep deprivation can impair your immune function as well, making some people more susceptible to illness.

Although the recommended amount of sleep is nine hours each night, many students still wonder how much sleep they really need.

“I wonder exactly how much sleep my body should get,” said Megan Howell, freshman in early childhood education. “It’s weird to me how my body wants a large amount of sleep when I function best on as little as four.”

Howell said she wants to get the recommended amount of sleep, but feels like her body responds differently than it should.

“When I get four or so hours of sleep, I wake right up in the morning without feeling groggy, whereas when I get around the recommended eight hours, I don’t want to get out of bed and find myself hitting the snooze a ton of times.”

Michael Vitiello, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington, said sleep needs also vary from person to person.

“Changes in your sleep needs can change at any stage in the lifespan,” Vitiello said.

The amount of sleep needed is the number of hours necessary to wake up without an alarm, refreshed and alert, Vitiello said.

An American corporation offering health services information, sleep needs can be affected by gender, genetics, internal clock, quality of sleep and recent lack of sleep, according to WebMD.

A study conducted by the Journal of American College Health in 2008 revealed that college students not only get less sleep than is necessary, but also go to bed and wake up later on weekends than on weekdays.

Grant said this type of irregular sleep pattern can lead to bad sleeping habits in the future.

More than 32 percent of students who participated in the study reported it took them more than 30 minutes to fall asleep each night. This data is consistent with research from the National Sleep Foundation, which reported that more than 40 percent of Americans have difficulty falling asleep.

Grant recommends that his patients get up out of bed if they cannot fall asleep within 20 minutes.

“If you are not sleeping within 20 minutes of trying to get to sleep, get up and indulge in non-stimulating activity,” Grant said. “Once you start feeling tired, attempt another trial of sleep.”

Grant said sleep clinics such as the Iowa Sleep Disorders Center offer personal assistance to students even if they are not referred by a doctor.

“Sleep problems are largely based on individual tolerance and students can self-refer to our clinic,” Grant said.

Many students must battle the challenge of establishing their own sleeping patterns while dealing with exterior disturbances beyond their control.

“I have three roommates,” Howell said. “None of us go to bed around the same time and I also have rowdy neighbors who keep me up at all hours of the night.”

Howell moved into the residence halls in August and has been living there ever since.

“I’ve adjusted quite a bit from sleeping at home,” Howell said. “But it’s still a rough sleeping zone in the dorms.”

The Journal of American College Health offers many simple suggestions on how to improve sleeping habits.

Sleep hygiene, for example, involves limiting naps to less than one hour, monitoring caffeine intake, using beds for sleeping instead of reading or watching TV and making sure the bedroom is comfortable.

The Journal of American College Health also said that white noise such as a fan or humidifier can improve sleep.

Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule isn’t the easiest task for college students. However, those dreaded all-nighters could lead to larger problems in the future.