Sleep is hailed as one of the pillars of health. We already know all humans —students included — require sleep. Without regular sleep, the body may become fatigued, and acute sleep deprivation can lead to decreased brain function and even psychosis.

For students with a heavy workload and increased activity in extracurricular activities, sleep may be cut short, resulting in not enough restful hours. This can affect graduate and undergraduate students who live off campus and cannot easily go home for a quick nap during the day.

Additionally, most students have fairly busy schedules and cannot fit in a break to go home. Therefore, it would be smart for those interested in creating a supportive, productive learning environment to invest in the sleep health of their students. 

To combat the sleep deprivation many students experience, two nap pods should be installed in Parks Library. This has already been done at other universities (such as Indiana), and I don’t see why Iowa State can’t have nap pods as well. These nap pods should be freely available to students for 30-minute reservation periods. These should be able to be easily reserved by talking to the circulation desk staff, who can also check them between users. 

To support nap pods at Iowa State, please visit Iowa State University’s Techstarter webpage, and join the discussion.