STUDENT LIFE
In a survey of 132 students at the University of Michigan, we assessed the brain health practices of university students during the academic year in comparison to breaks and off-time. In evaluating the positive practices of students, we seek to uncover the relationship between university life and brain health. Though universities strive to foster one’s brain by enriching it with information, they often do not support the maintaining of the brain in other aspects, such as exercising or sleeping well on a daily basis. We have found six specific practices that be beneficial for universities to promote during the academic year.
We predicted that University of Michigan students would practice fewer healthy brain practices less often during the academic year as opposed to off-time. From our own experience, we believed that the university environment would cause the average student to play fewer mind-stimulating games, exercise less often, sleep fewer hours per night, use alcohol and other drugs frequently, and heighten stress levels. We asked participants to answer how often they engaged in the aforementioned activities during both periods of the year. The results showed that students generally exhibited healthier behaviors during off-time than during the academic year in these areas.
The first area, the interaction with mind-stimulating games, was interesting as students reported that they play more mind-stimulating games during off-time than during the academic year. The survey showed that during off-time, 50% of participants played these games at least once a month and 33% played them at least once a week; during the academic year, however, 31% of participants played at least once a month and 18% played at least once a week (see Figure 1). Though academic coursework will provide mental stimulation and therefore help to maintain brain health, it seems that many students will continue to stimulate their brain during off-time with such games. This conclusion leads us to believe that some students continue to challenge their brain when they are not stimulated by classwork, whether they are aware of the games’ effects or not.
University life may also hinder students’ exercise habits, therefore inhibiting the benefits their brain may receive from doing so. 60% of surveyed students reported that they exercise multiple times a week during breaks and off-time, with 16% exercising every day (see Figure 2). During the academic year, 44% of surveyed students exercise multiple times a week and 11% exercise daily (see Figure 2). With increased workload and activities, exercise may be a secondary thought in the mind of a student, therefore causing them to lose the extended benefits that come with regular exercise.
during such breaks, while only 4% reported this level of stress during the school year (see Figure 5). Constant stress on the brain will cause adverse effects, leading to possible consequences such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.
Diet is especially important for fueling the brain while putting it under the intensive stress of college. While students absorb vital information from classes, the correct diet is important to facilitate this absorption and keep students active and awake during the day. Students' diets, however, are not significantly healthier during the academic year than during breaks and off-time — 54% of students reported that they consciously choose healthy options at least once a day during breaks and off-time while 52% reported the same during the academic year (see Figure 6). Eating a healthy diet is important throughout the year, however, and it is vital for students to consciously choose healthy options consistently. Further, due to heightened expectations and activity during the academic year, students should be eating healthier while at college to better equip themselves for these pressures.
Figure 3. How many hours do you sleep on an average night?
Figure 2. How often do you exercise?
Figure 1. How often do you play mind-stimulating games including crossword puzzles, sudoku, or apps?
Figure 5. How would you gauge your average stress level?
FIGURES AND ENDNOTES
With an accelerated course load, students reported fewer hours of sleep per night during the academic year. 27% of survey participants reported that they receive fewer than six hours of sleep per night during the academic year, while only 6% get over eight hours (see Figure 3). In contrast, 51% of students surveyed indicated that they get over eight hours of sleep during breaks, with only 1% getting fewer than six hours per night (see Figure 3). Without crucial time to restore itself, the growing student brain may suffer upon receiving inadequate amounts of sleep over extended periods of time.
Alcohol and other drugs are ever-present on college campuses, and at the University of Michigan, students reported a higher use of these substances during the academic year than breaks. 50% reported that they consume these substances at least once per week during the academic year, while only 34% do so during off-time (see Figure 4). This consistent use of such substances will inhibit cognitive functions, especially if continued over an extended period of time.
Stress is especially pervasive on college campuses, with increased pressures from classes and extracurriculars. 70% of students reported having high or very high levels of stress during the academic year, while only 12% reported the same levels during breaks (see Figure 5). Further, 58% of students reported their stress levels to be low or very low
The survey’s final questions asked students to report whether 1) they believe they need to improve their brain health, 2) if they have researched good practices to maintain this health, and 3) if they actively think about and maintain their brain health. Of the 132 students surveyed, 101 (76.52%) reported that they needed to work on their brain health. Further, 94 (71.21%) students stated that they had not researched positive brain health practices before, and 92 (69.70%) reported that they do not actively think about and work to maintain their brain health. Though some students may practice these positive behaviors for other reasons and still reap the benefits, it appears that many students recognize that their brain health could be actively improved.
Using these results, we conclude that University of Michigan students are affected by factors of academic life that influence their ability to maintain their brain health. Though we have speculations about the causes of this correlation, we cannot know exactly what influences this change from off-time to the academic year in one’s brain health. We do see a potential implication in the future, however, that the hard-earned knowledge gained at the university may be counteracted by the ill effects of poor brain health, which may lead to diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease further in one’s life. We encourage the University of Michigan to help students become informed about positive brain health practices and provide further resources to incorporate these practices into everyday student life.
After analyzing this survey, we have come to see potential pitfalls in our methods. First, about 75% of the respondents were females, which may have skewed our data. We believe this could be the cause of sharing the survey to Facebook, where many of our female friends would have seen it and taken the survey.
Further, we received a majority of freshmen and sophomores who responded and few juniors and seniors. The ability to adapt to university life may have played a role in the answers and disparity between off-time and the academic year. However, this sample of mostly underclassmen may also give a better projection for future classes at the university. Lastly, asking about one’s perceived effects of certain practices seemed to be less effective than we assumed, as many students recognize the general effects a behavior may have on brain health.
Overall, however, we believe that we received important data about the difference between students’ brain health practices during the academic year and off-time, and we recognize that the university can provide further resources to decrease this disparity and foster students’ growing brains.
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Figure 6. How often do you consciously choose what to eat based on how healthy the option is?
