Why you should make a good nights sleep a priority

Question

This guide on sleep for college students offers important tips on how—and why—to improve your sleep hygiene.

Comments

This blog produced by Harvard Summer School cited from sources such as CDC and AAA describe the consequences of sleep deprivation. There is provided statistics of college student sleep schedules which I personally found to be accurate.  In the consequences listed within the article it is exemplified that statistics show that the average of 328,000 motor vehicle accidents are caused by people who have a lack of sleep. From personal experience I found this also to be accurate because in studying for finals my senior year of high school one of my closest friends got into a car crash due to lack of sleep.

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One thing I like about using this Harvard article as a source is it's layout. The reader can easily see where you got the information and follow along with the conclusions you drew from it. It is very nice to see a polished article by a prestigious university be a source for citation and it is encouraging to see world class sources such as the CDC. The quote I found most interesting was, "According to the CDC, staying awake for 18 hours can have the same effect as a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05 percent. Staying awake for 24 hours can equate to a BAC of 0.10 percent (higher than the legal limit of 0.08 percent). " In conjunction with AAA data that, "...drowsy driving causes an average of 328,000 motor vehicle accidents each year in the US. Drivers who sleep less than five hours per night are more than five times as likely to have a crash as drivers who sleep for seven hours or more."  I think you could dive even deeper into this and include the quality of sleep not just the quantity. An article by the Mayo Clinic backs this up, suggesting that the quality of sleep is just as important as the quantity we get. For example, what if its true that if we get 10 hours we may think we are overachieving but if constant waking up and sleep apnea persists then it can lead to worse sleep than someone who sleeps for only 7 but has an amazing quality of sleep.

https://summer.harvard.edu/blog/why-you-should-make-a-good-nights-sleep-a-priority/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/faq-20057898

Answer 1

This blog's claim about the important of sleep is accurate. It does provided reliable resources such as the CDC and research done by the AAA giving links to the readers to further explore the science behind this conclusion and simply providing the summarized ideas. This publication of this  Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine does likewise and it additionally links to the publications of the research paper that supported this conclusion. The blog quality seems rather general targeting the everyday people with the simplicity of the article format and the straightforward language used. The validity of this blog seems high as mentioned by NYT, " For more than 200 years, HMS has been the most prestigious and trusted source of medical education in the world." With HMS being Harvard Medical School which is a competitive and is a well-respected source. Some flaws that I would highlight about this article is its lack of author which gives no indication of possible bias and may cause lack of trust from the audience. As well as its publication as a blog rather an article which would be appropriate for informative health topics. This blog was published in 2021 however it seemed that it was recently revised in November of 2023 which based on topic and efforts put into it seems rather recent. It does seem that the topic is mentioned in news article mainly scientific focused news publishers however it does seem that NBC has mentioned this topic. A benefit of the simplicity nature of this blog and the high validity of the publishing website makes its points clear. Harvard is a educational foundation which is promoting sleep for health reasons which are linked to educational reason so even if bias wasn't intended the underlining of it is there. As many points correct and balanced however they also proving a point to their audiences which tend to be students and faculty on which this educational foundation depends on. Overall the headline does align with the topics reviewed providing key and clean points about the importance of sleep. 

https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.9476#d130351e1 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0114102

https://nytlicensing.com/content/harvard-health-publishing/#:~:text=Harvard%20Health%20Publishing%20is%20the,medical%20education%20in%20the%20world.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325353#athletic-performance

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/beating-insomnia-lower-risk-heart-attack-rcna72016 

Answer 2

This is a blog post about improving sleep hygiene by Harverd. It’s directed towards college students to help them sleep well. The article provides statistical data that gives clear insight to how much sleep people between the ages of 14-25 need along with the negative effects of sleep deprivation. The article ends with tips on how to improve your sleep habits. This is a very helpful, reliable article.

Comments

Not only is this article accurate, but it is also very persuasive. The blog post style of writing makes it feel personal and easy to read, and like you noted, every claim that is made is backed up by statistics. I also liked how they cited well-known sources that people know they can trust to increase their credibility.

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Do you have any sources outside of the Harvard blog post that support your fact-check? A strong fact-check includes reliable sources and a clear explanation with data or quotes from the sources. Thanks!