Many students are not getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night. (Photo by Jocelyn Gollner)

Kwantlen students may not be getting the sleep that they need.

The average amount of sleep that Kwantlen students get each night is six hours, based on an interview with 15 students. According to Dr. Najib Ayas, a member of the Sleep Disorders Program at UBC, students should be getting about eight.

Without a proper amount of sleep, Ayas says that “ your cognition won’t be as good, so you won’t be as alert. And you won’t be able to learn as well.”

If that doesn’t persuade you to get more sleep, he also says that sleep deprivation “affects your appetite hormones and that can actually lead to weight gain.” But with school, work, relationships, family commitments, sports, etc., getting more sleep can be easier said than done.

“I get like six or seven hours of sleep,” said Jennifer Chong, a student at Kwantlen. “If it were my choice I would get way more. Then I would feel way more relaxed.”

When asked what prevents her from getting more sleep, she said it’s mostly studying.

Jina Seo, a design student, also gets about six hours of sleep each night. Does she feel that that is enough?

“No, of course not,” she said.

RELATED: Stress relief for students is a no-brainer