Vanderbilt is one of the most sleep deprived schools in America
Not what I would have thought at all
Stats taken from a fitness tracker bracelet, UP by Jawbone, say Vanderbilt students average 7 hours of sleep per night, making it the 99th most sleep deprived school in the US.
How is it possible that 98 schools have it worse than us?
Jawbone currently has 3 bracelet models of the tracker that record sleep data such as bedtime, wake time and total hours slept, provided that one is wearing the bracelet, of course.
According to Jawbone, Vandy students on average go to sleep at 12:34 am and wake up at 8:14 am on weekdays. Bedtime and wake time are both about an hour later on weekends.
Columbia was apparently the sleepiest school in the nation with students averaging 6.68 hours a night. Also in the top 10 were UC Irvine (averaging 6.73 hours per night) and UC Davis (averaging 6.75 hours per night). I guess that’s how they do it on the West Coast.
This data cannot be viewed uncritically, however.
While this study is one of the first college sleep analyses on a scale this large, the data is compiled from bracelet-wearers alone. Someone who wears a fitness tracker 24/7 may be a bit more health-conscious than the average student.
Vanderbilt goes to sleep unusually early for its academic ranking
Doctors typically recommend getting 8 hours of sleep per night to facilitate memory, improve cognitive function and keep hunger at bay, along with a myriad of other health benefits.
But I can name more than a couple Vandy students who get 6 or less hours of sleep per night, myself included during stressful weeks of class. But if lack of sleep typically corresponds to academic success, we are a bit of an outlier.
Perhaps this is why we are considered to be the happiest school in the nation.
On another hand, if we look at this data as truly indicative of campus health, Vanderbilt is towards the front of the rankings in number of steps. Students average 10,000 steps per day – almost 5 miles. For reference, our campus is only about a mile across, and we’re still ahead of many of the geographically larger state schools. Go us!