It’s a fleeting activity for college students. We start school and lose sleep. According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, 60% percent of college students are sleep deprived, getting less than the recommended eight hours.

Sleeping is your brain’s downtime to file away information from the day, release growth hormones and to do a myriad of other activities. But what if that downtime is interrupted, or taken in excess?

In psychology, things deemed “abnormal” are specifically talking about deviations from what is normal. So to understand sleep “abnormalities,”  you must understand what sleep is normally. The average time spent sleeping is eight hours for most adults (with some people needing more or less). The person’s sleep cycle goes through four stages, stages one through four, broken by a type of sleep known as rapid eye movement sleep (REM).

REM in itself is extremely important because it is dreaming. Without dreams, you’ll eventually go insane. With prolonged sleep deprivation, studies have shown that within four to five days, visual hallucinations are equivalent to that of someone with acute paranoid schizophrenia. Sleeping disorders are defined as disruptions of sleeping that interfere with the ability to function in daily life and persistent, pervasive interruptions of sleep (such as waking up in the middle of the night), or not being able to obtain sleep at all. Disorders are generally made on the basis that they last a certain amount of time and the person is not taking a drug that would cause the symptoms.

Three more interesting sleeping disorders are insomnia, hypersomnia, and somnambulism.

 Insomnia is one of the most well-known and most common sleeping problems. Insomniacs tend to get some sleep, but they remain in the “lighter” stages of sleep (stage one or Alpha sleep in the sleep cycle). Insomnia is broken into three subcategories: difficulty falling asleep (DFA), middle of the night awakening (MNA), and early morning awakening (EMA). Insomnia is generally caused by ongoing stressors, anxiety, or even depression.

 On the flip side of the coin is the hypersomnic. Hypersomnics sleep long hours, experience daytime sleepiness, alongside irritation, frequent napping that provides no relief, anxiety and disorientation upon awakening. While hypersomniacs sleep more than the recommended eight hours, their quality of sleep differs, and they generally wake up with grogginess. There is a tendency for them to experience hypnagogic hallucinations as well, dream-like hallucinations that have “leaked” over into reality. Treatment for hypersomnia generally includes stimulant drugs, along with antidepressants and MAO (monoamine oxidase inhibitor; a different type of antidepressants) inhibitors.

 The third  type of sleep disorder that occurs in roughly 3.6% of the United States population is somnambulism or sleepwalking. Sleepwalking is relatively common in children, but in adults it can be a sign of neurological problems. Somnambulism occurs in the third stage of sleep (without experiencing REM sleep). Sleepwalkers tend to look awake, but their stare is glossy and they may mumble a few words or do other activities. Contrary to popular belief, waking someone who is sleepwalking will not harm them or send them into shock. It’s more likely that because stage three sleep is deep sleep (and hard to regain immediate consciousness), that the person is likely to have brief cognitive impairments and harm or lash out at you. This isn’t intentional by any means, but is due to the fact the person is likely to be confused. It’s recommended to guide the sleepwalker back to their room.

 It’s best to remember that while college is an exciting time, basic needs still must be met. Eating well, drinking plenty of water, maintaining stress and anxiety levels and getting enough sleep reduce the likelihood of obtaining any particular disorder (not just sleeping). Life is a balance of all things, and moderation is (one) of the keys to success.