How does lack of sleep affect academic performance in college? Effect on emotions? Social life?

Lack of sleep affects EVERYTHING! Lack of sleep affects appetite, energy level, the ability to concentrate, moods, emotions, and physical well-being. If you're not getting enough sleep, it's negatively affecting you. Plain and simple.

Yes it does. Especially academically.

Here's an instructive article from Yahoo News on the subject, that I read just recently: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071022/sc_livescience/emotionsrunamokinsleepdeprivedbrains;_ylt=ArrNDv8o.7FHiN25XYstZfJxieAA And here's another, later article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/sc_nm/sleep_emotions_dc;_ylt=Aj9witnt7CSaBBvnaON9qmJxieAA The point of both of these articles seems to be that sleep deprivation will put you into a "fight or flight" mode of thinking at some point. You'll become emotionally more intense, erratic, and much less likely to think things through. In fact, one of those articles, I think, briefly mentions that some of these newfound emotional symptoms resemble the effects of a mood disorder in their strength. And while I personally wouldn't take it that far....my own experience does suggest that there's something to this. I've been dealing with depression issues all of my life, and have been getting help for them as an adult for the past 15 years or so. One consequence of this is that my sleeping is rather screwy: when I am not on medication, I don't get enough sleep, and when *I am* on it, sometimes if I don't manage things right, I *still* don't get enough sleep. And it does mess with you. I find myself mean, grouchy, whiny and borderline incoherent if I'm *forced* out of bed before 10 a.m. really. Part of this is me--I don't sleep deeply enough to dream until after dawn--but I think part of it is just that I've been so used to being deprived every day that my baseline has shifted, and now I really *cannot* take any more deprivation. And yes, I've had sleep studies done twice with me on this, I really sleep very lightly at night, until it gets light outside. But I digress. My point is, the earlier you get me out of bed, the more likely I am to either freak out and shut down (flight) or to be very angry, grumpy and anti-social (fight). My intelligence and concentration don't take a hit so much, but my ability to rein in impulses and emotions sure does. So yeah, I'd say it could trash your emotional life entirely, and by way of that make you anti-social enough to trash your social life. And while you can function intellectually in a classroom setting (done it), you'll still be on edge and resent the situation (doing what you're told to do by an authority figure *you're paying*), which is hardly the attitude to have going into a final exam or any sort of group project (been there, ruined that). I hope this helps out....have a star, and take a nap already! ^_^ Really, even a brief nap of an hour or so can help out...

Check this link out. Though it doesn't regard insomnia, it identifies the acadmic affects of lack of sleep in students. I do hope you are able to find some rest! http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/aaos-csw053007.php