Wednesday, January 15, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Adjustment difficult
for rural students
By Jen Deselms
Staff Reporter
Students from small rural high
schools have to make a big adjustment
when they enter college, said a UNL
official.
Vernon Williams, director of UNL
"Ninety-nine percent of the time I
need it, especially for the classes I
don't like," she said.
Roberta Miller, a freshman from
Cozad, said she was afraid her classes
would be hard and she would have
problems meeting people. But her
classes haven't been hard and working
at the Cather-Pound-Neihardt Snack
Counseling Center, said the adaptation
to new social and living arrangements Bar helps her meet people
can be a great growth experience.
Dori Heil, a freshman from Madrid,
Neb., said she didn't like college at
first.
"I missed all my classes one day
because I couldn't find them," she
said.
Heil said she was startled to find out
that all of Madrid could fit in a UNL
lecture hall.
Heil said she expected the classes to
be extremely hard, but she hasn't
studied as much as she thought she
would. Meeting people has been easy,
she said, but she misses her best friend
from home. When Heil is sick, she said,
she misses her mother.
Heil said it's hard to make herself
get up in the morning because no one
forces her.
Sometimes it's hard to fit work.
studying and other activities into her
schedule. When that happens, Miller
said, usually her homework doesn't get
done.
Chris Pippert, a freshman from Au
burn, said he thought UNL would be
impersonal. But he said meeting people
is easy for him as a fraternity member.
He said he didn't think he would have
met many people if he had been living
in a residence hall.
Williams said the new experiences
cause stress that the student does not
always recognize. He said that several
years ago a former UNL faculty member,
Gene Harding, conducted a study and
found that college freshmen are not
only the most stressed students but
also the most stressed group of people.
Hours
24
Hours of sleep
(per day)
1 I
40
12
20
Age (years)
70
Kurt EberhardtDaily Nebraskan
Is
d lea
to
AS
Sleep aids study, teacher says
Screening makes people
uninsurable, unemployable
By Jonathan Taylor
Senior Reporter
GOODMAN from Page 4
not say is that the test may be a back
door screen for homosexuals and drug
users, both groups at high risk for AIDS
and both banned from military service.
But they also want to protect the
armed forces from medical costs. A
main motive for screening out those
who have been exposed to AIDS may be
money, and that is a concern that car
ries over into civilian life.
The Center for Disease Control now
estimates that it has cost, so far, about
$147,000 to care for each of the first
10,000 AIDS patients. AIDS is a break-the-bank
disease. No employer, public
or private, and no medical insurer
would welcome such a victim on its
lists. Cancer patients have enough
trouble finding jobs and health insur
ers. The victims of AIDS are shunned.
What is different about this test is
that it doesn't measure past or present
disease; it lays odds for the future, odds
that are still in flux. The test shows
only whether someone has been ex
posed to the virus. It doesn't say
whether he or she will get the disease.
Even if one out of five who have the
antibodies is a future victim, do we
want to screen the other four out of
work, or out of health insurance?
This concern is not just limited to
AIDS. We can already make modest
predictions on the basis of family med
ical histories and we're increasingly
able to test for genetic diseases like
Huntington's disease. What if we can
test for Alzheimer's disease or liver
cancer? People who carry such risks
might also become unemployable,
uninsurable.
Carol Levine, who spends much of
her time thinking about medical ethics
at the Hastings Institute, says: "The
insurers would like to test you for
everything. I can imagine a lot of sce
narios as we gain a greater ability to
predict genetic susceptibility to workplace
hazards, there will be incredible pres
sure to remove the person at risk
instead of reducing the hazard."
She asks the additional question:
"Who is going to bear the cost of their
not being employable?" The public will
pay support, just as the public health
system takes on the burden when peo-
Sleep can be one of a student's most
valuable study aids, according to a UNL
psychology professor.
Although sleep helps people stay
pie cannot get private health insurance healthy and alert, said Dan Leger,
and become paupers through illness, assistant psychology professor, college
Some states, notably California and students typically get the least sleep of
Wisconsin, have passed laws that ban most age groups. Leger estimated that
to sleep."
Leger said sleeping does more than
recharge the body. The two major kinds
of sleep, Slow Wave sleep and Rapid
Eye Movement sleep, fulfill different
and important functions, he said. Both
take place every time a person sleeps,
routinely get only six hours of sleep
might want to try eight hours for awhile
and compare how they feel.
Leger said it is easy for students to
make what little sleep they get count.
Controlling the sleeping environment
is one simple way, he said. Convincing
regardless of the amount of time spent neighbors to be quiet and roommates
the use of testing as a barrier to
employment or health insurance. But a
huge employer, the military, is setting
a precedent that will be noted by anx
ious employers and health insurers. If
the military can do it, so can the
factory.
In the end, the mass-screening pro
gram may become a public-health
danger in itself. It turns our attention
from finding a medical answer to find-
students get only an average of six
hours of sleep a night compared to the
normal eight hours 20-year-olds should
get.
there.
Slow Wave sleep, which refers to the
brain wave activity that occurs, is not
as deep as REM sleep. Leger said a
widely held theory is that Slow Wave
type of sleep fulfills a restorative
function and rejuvenates the body.
to leave lights off also helps.
Another effective method is to con
sistently go to sleep at a particular
time. If people have a sleep pattern,
Leger said, they can train their body to
prepare for sleep and to wake at a
designated time. The natural alarm
Although people require less sleep Physical activity during the day pro- clock that wakes people up just before
as they get older, Leger said, a 21-year- motes Slow Wave sleep.
old student getting only six hours of REM sleep is associated with dream-
sleep is like an 8-year-old getting eight ing. Leger said REM sleep is thought to
hours of sleep when he should be
getting about 12 hours.
There are many obvious sociological
ing a social solution. It feeds the illu- elements that affect students' sleep,
sion that we can segregate all the peo
ple who have been exposed to the virus.
But it is not just 13 seaman who have
been exposed. There are an estimated
two million such people. Until we find a
cure, a medical cure, they and their
problems will touch us every day.
1986, The Boston Globe News-
Leger said. The most common cause of
poor sleep is stress associated with
college, he said. But stress is not the
only factor. Students' living environ
ments, especially if they live in a
residence hall, affect sleep. Also, de
mands on students' time, whether it's
studying or partying, determine how
paper CompanyWashington Post Wri- much time is devoted to sleep, Leger
ters Group said.
Goodman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning For many students, Leger said, "it's
columnist for the Boston Globe. more enjoyable to party than to just go
consolidate and organize people's
thoughts into their permanent memory.
Therefore, the amount of thinking dur
ing the day affects a person's REM
sleep.
Although Slow Wave sleep leaves a
person feeling more rested the next
morning, Leger said, the body needs
both types of sleep to function properly.
Studies show that when the body is
deprived of REM sleep people become
irritable and their body will fight to
regain some of the lost REM sleep.
Students can tell if they lack sleep,
Leger said, if they don't feel alert by
mid-afternoon. He said students who
the alarm goes off works if a person
consistently gets ready for bed at the
same time as well, he said.
Forming a relaxing routine before
bedtime can help people fall asleep
faster, Leger said. People should pre
cede bedtime'with 30 minutes to an
hour of relaxing non-thinking
activity, such as watching TV or listen
ing to soothing music.
"Not thinking too much before bed
time helps facilitate quick onset of
sleep," Leger said.
Leger also suggested relaxation
training techniques that help people
wind down from the day's events. More
information is available at the UNL
counseling or the University Health
Center, he said.
CARE.
February 28, 19S is the Deadline!
All applications for the Student Health and Accident
Insurance must be received by February 28, 1986.
Brochures and information are available at:
UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER
or call 472-7437
Chock thoso points:
o Am I still eligible for coverage under my parent's plan?
A. Is there an age limit? Most policies limit the age for
dependent coverage to age 23.
B. Are you thinking of marriage? Most policies exclude
a dependent after he becomes married
Have I declared financial independence from
my parents by receiving financial aid, and no
longer eligible as a dependent under their plan?
o Would a medical emergency deplete funds
set aside for my education?
