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Show AggieLife Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 Page 7 Learn how to get the most out of your sleep By NIKKI LIVES staff writer It's the night before a big exam: one student stays awake cramming information into his brain for hours on end, and another studies for an hour or two and spends the night in snoozeville. Who does better on the test? Dr. Kerry Jordan, assistant professor of psychology, says that sleep deprived students are often more confident about their performance on exams after a night full of cramming, but just the opposite is true. "Sleep deprived students often do more poorly on exams, but are more confident that they did well," Jordan said. Students who have been up all night cramming feel like they know more because of the extra time they spent studying, but without sleep, the information is not retained as well. "The best thing a student can do is get a full night of sleep before an exam," said Tom Berry, a staff psychologist and internship coordinator for USU's Counseling and Psychological Services. Berry said studying for an hour and a half and then getting a full night of sleep actually increases test performance. Sleep is a vital, everyday task that some people feel like they can go without, but the repercussions of sleep deprivation can sometimes prove fatal. "Studies have shown that going 16 hours without sleep can make a person's driving equal to that of being legally intoxicated," Jordan said. Performance on other easy and sometimes monotonous tasks, such as recalling memories, suffer as well. The impacts of going without sleep can also make one more irritable and leave them feeling physically drained. Humans go through stages known as the sleep cycles, according to the USU Health Services website. If one wakes in the middle of a deep sleep cycle, he or she is more likely to feel drowsy or tired all day because his or her sleep cycle was not fully finished. In order to complete a cycle, the brain moves into REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep, which is the state where most dreaming and the deepest levels of sleep occur. Jordan says that the REM and deeper sleep phases are the last stages of the sleep cycle. Waking up before the cycles are over is more difficult and can make one feel more tired. She also says these are the phases that are needed the most. Once the brain has been deprived of REM sleep, it will do what is called a "rebound effect." The brain will try to slip back into those deep sleep cycles faster than a normal sleep cycle, proving that the brain needs REM and deep sleep cycles to rest. "College students are constantly playing fast and loose with their sleep," Berry said. Students often do not get the right amount of sleep or try to wake up in the middle of sleep cycles. "When a student sleeps through (his or her) alarm, it's more than likely that (he or she) is at the bottom of the sleep cycle," Berry said. To help develop a better sleep cycle, USU's health services website suggests going to sleep and waking up around the same time every day. This helps the body's inner clock develop a daily rhythm. Also, try to limit napping during the day because it can fragment your sleep rhythm as well. If a nap is necessary, try to nap for under an hour and before 3 p.m. To help students learn more about sleep, Berry, with Counseling and Psychological Services, will be putting on a seminar titled "Getting the Most out of Your Sleep." Berry will discuss how to manage sleep and THIS TUESDAY THERE WILL be a seminar on "Getting the most out of your sleep." The new workshop will teach students the best ways to wake up feeling refreshed. AN/ AGHABABYAN photo make the most out of the time that one has to sleep. "College folks need around nine hours, which would be six sleep cycles," Berry said. "A sleep cycle is, on average, an hour and a half, so if a student can't get nine hours, we encourage them to cut back to seven and a half so it's easier to wake up." The seminar will also teach students how to deal with chronic sleeping problems, difficulty falling asleep, and sleep quality. Students will also learn how sleeping issues can sometimes be linked to anxiety or depres- sion. At the end of the seminar, there will be a brief question and answer period for personal sleep issues. "Sleep is so foundational. If (students) are not getting good sleep, everything else a college student has to do becomes harder," Berry said. "Getting the Most out of Your Sleep" will be held Tuesday, Oct. 19, in TSC room 310B from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The seminar is open to all students. To reserve a seat contact call 797-1012 or stop by TSC 306. -nikkidives6@aggiemaiLusu.edu Professor teaches students how to teach others By WHITNEY PAGE staff writer After Dr. J. Freeman King, director of Deaf Education, traveled to many universities across the country, he was drawn to Utah State. He enjoys fly fishing, taking on the ski slopes, and rock climbing, which contributed to King's decision to come to Utah. "The first thing that impressed me was the fantastic limestone in the canyon. I had always had to fly to where I had to climb, and I was really impressed with the rock," King said. King was exposed to the deaf world when he was coaching gymnastics at the YMCA in Louisiana. A 12-year-old deaf boy wanted to join King's team. King had never met a deaf person before this time, and didn't know how he was going to communicate with the boy. "We wrote notes back and forth. I told him he could join the team, and he started teaching me a handful of signs. He taught me to finger-spell, and subsequently he introduced me to members of the deaf community by inviting me to a deaf club meeting in Charleston, La.," King said. From there he drove to Baton Rouge and visited the Louisiana School for the Deaf, attended football games and observed classes there. Coupled with these experiences and the boy on his gymnastics team, he recognized that it was something he was really interested in, and decided he wanted to be a part of it. He applied to do his master's at Eastern New Mexico University, was accepted and began the program in deaf education. In New Mexico he completed his student teaching and from there he got to where he is today. "I never took a sign class. I learned from the deaf community. They were my teachers," King said. After all of the years he has been teaching, King has a lot of experience at the front of the classroom. He says that the most challenging part of being a professor is to "consistently turn out high quality, well-trained teachers that will get out there in the profession and make a difference in the lives of deaf children, as well as in the profession." Even though it is hard to imagine King doing something other than deaf education, he said he would probably be involved in natural resources if he wasn't where he is today. He said he might be doing something in the fisheries or wildlife programs or something like park management. King loves teaching his students how to teach others. "The most humbling experience, and there is a number of them, is when my students who are out there teaching now or who have become teachers or college professors themselves contact me or stay in touch. And they tell me that I influence their lives," King said. He took a two-year sabbatical and went to Mexico, outside Guadalajara, where he trained teachers of the deaf. He got involved in this program while he was teaching at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. After teaching in Mexico, he transferred to El Salvador in the 80s during the civil war that was going on there. "I was the only gringo silly enough, or stupid enough to go to El Salvador at this time. It was a tough time for the country, and it was a dangerous time," he said. Traveling all over the world, King became fluent in American, Writing: Club helps members improve writing Ilcontinued from page 6 have missed, and all the other what other people have to say members get to hear the story about your work, they catch at the same time. stuff that you don't," Thorpe The audience gives feedsaid. back after the reading is The group is not excluthrough. Feedback is a major sive only to English majors. part of the critiquing cycle. It Anyone with a love of writing consists of opinions on what is encouraged to join. The would enhance the story, Creative Writing Cub's main whether by removing certain goal is to enhance authors' elements, or adding others. technique and give them a "You get better by hearing place to gather constructive feedback. "Writing is important for everything; everyone uses it," Thorpe said. "And creative writing is an emotional outlet." This club is for all those students who managed to make a novel out of half a sentence during the dreaded daily oral language exercises in grade school, take "once upon a time...," put pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard, and let the creative juices flow. — shanelle.b@aggiemad.usu. edu Mexican, Salvadorian and Honduran sign language, and he acquired a little bit of Chinese Sign Language. He can also speak Spanish and a small amount of French. In his traveling to developing countries and teaching teachers for the deaf, he said that he always learns far more from them than he teaches. When King isn't traveling the world or teaching future teachers of the deaf, he likes to get a bite to eat at some of his favorite restaurants in Cache Valley. One could probably find him at Angie's, Cafe Sabor, El Toro Viejo or at a small Salvadorian restaurant, Pupuseria. King said the advice he would give to students at USU is, "Don't become a clone of other people's expectations. Become who you were intended to be, become who you are." —whitney.page@aggiemausu.edu tri•chol•o•gy SALON \--T1115 N. 200 E. Ste 200 Logan's newest premier Salon FREE eye brow wax w/ any Salon service and 20% off product with U.S.U. 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