How Sleep Deprivation Can Cause Stress and Other Health Issues in First Year Medical Students

Many people are accepted into medical school every year, and even though these students are the best and brightest, they can easily become overwhelmed and stressed out due to sleep deprivation. The amount of information that first year medical students have to learn in a short amount of time have many of them sleeping 3 hours or less every night. This can affect the health of the student, especially in the long run, since this can have adverse effects on the student's well being, ability to concentrate and perform their medical duties.

Most first year medical students can be seen studying late at night, weeks and even months before a test and this stress, combined with the stress that is created from their lack of sleep can severely hamper their decision making skills as well as decreasing their physical condition. Sleep deprivation causes an increase in corticotrophin releasing hormone or CRH in the body, this effect is also increased when the student is stressed. This hormone starts a chain reaction which eventually leads to the production of hormones related to stress, such as adrenaline. These hormones in excess will generally result in a host of negative effects including anxiety, heart related problems, high blood pressure and migraines.

Caffeine is a staple of many first year medical students and this substance is highly addictive, those will keep the student awake long enough to get more schoolwork done. When abused, it has the potential to become almost as lethal any other drug. This substance can increase the heart rate of the medical student and lead to a myriad of diseases such as; high blood pressure, increase heart rate, depression, anxiety and cardiovascular disease. Many medical students also find that after graduation they suffer from insomnia and other illnesses related to sleep deprivation.

Many first year medical students will simply have to study smarter and harder instead of longer, to help them get more sleep every night. This will have to become a lifestyle change since many first year medical students are still accustomed to going out and idling, talking on the phone and other activities that can be cut out rather than sleep. They should also avoid coffee for four hours before their appointed bedtime to enable the m to fall asleep quickly when the time comes. Exercise is also very helpful since this helps to increase cardiovascular health, relieve stress and can allow every medical student to stay healthy and stress free while enduring the rigors of medical school.

References
1. http://www.heart-disease-bypass-surgery.com/data/articles/49.htm
2. http://www.livescience.com/health/060323_sleep_deprivation.html