Sleep Deprivation In Everyday Life

Sleep is necessary to function in everyday life. Without sleep, humans become impaired, and simple day-to-day activities become harder to do. Sleep deprivation is increasing steadily among the human population as some humans strive to prolong the time that they are awake believing that sleeping is a waste of time. However, studies show that sleep is necessary for the body to process the information taken in that day and store that information. Sleep deprivation has several effects on the human body, and not only can it impair our ability to learn and retain information, it also increases our risk for attaining certain diseases and health problems. It is a common misconception that naps can set back the effects of sleep deprivation. However,

The data I collected shows a correlation in the amount of time a nap takes and the energy level of the student after they have taken the nap. I found that if the nap is less than forty five minutes long the person will usually wake up feeling refreshed and alert. If the nap is longer than forty five minutes the students reported feeling groggy and disoriented. I found through extensive research that what these students feel is called sleep inertia. Sleep inertia is a feeling of grogginess due to your body still believing it is asleep (Healthy Sleep). This usually happens as a result of people taking long naps and waking up instead of actually going to sleep. The longer a nap actually is the more the body thinks it is actually going to go to sleep because it pulls the person “napping” into a deeper state of sleeping where the effects of REM sleep start taking place. REM sleep, rapid eye movement, is where the body systems become active like the brain while the muscle of the body become paralyzed. The body has not entered REM sleep but it is preparing to do so (Healthy Sleep). Which is why napping for more than forty five minutes is ineffective if the student wants to momentary boost of cognitive performance. What the student actually does by taking a forty five minute nap or more is cause sleep inertia that can last several minutes making the nap counterproductive. In regards to the productivity naps can offer my findings concur with Dr. Driskell and his research, "The Efficacy of Naps as a Fatigue Countermeasure: A Meta-Analytic Integration", which address the use of naps as a counterbalance to the side effect, fatigue, that comes from sleep deprivation. However, the only difference is that my research targets sleep deprivation as a whole instead of just one side effect. Regardless in both cases the