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Cognitive effects of sleep deprivation essay
Essay on sleep deprivation and mental health
Cognitive effects of sleep deprivation essay
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Sleep deprivation is increasingly recognized as a worldwide public health concern as researchers found that lack of sleep impairs human functioning[2]. The majority of individuals was found to be sleep deprived as they are forced to restrain their sleeping hours to compensate increasing working hours, especially individuals whose professions’ is in line with healthcare, security and transportation sectors as they are often required to be on duty even at night [1]. Regardless of whether the individual was totally or partially sleep deprived, it was proven that both had adverse effects on the human body[3]. Further studies revealed that sleep deprivation affected ones’ cognitive and motor performance as well as mood[2]. One of the effects of sleep deprivation is impairment of cognitive performance[1,2,3]. Sleep deprivation interferes with the frontal lobes of the brain causing attention lapses and momentary absent-mindedness, resulting in decreased attention and attentiveness[1,2]. Findings confirmed that subjects performed worse on vigilance tasks that were long, simple and monotonous[1]. A possible explanation on why subjects were more error prone in repetitive tasks could be due to a decline in reaction time and accuracy as prolong wakefulness continued[3]. Another important finding was that lack of sleep disrupts subjects’ reasoning ability and creativity[1]. Although some research indicates that sleep deprivation of 45 hours or less is sufficient to cause these effects on cognitive performance, some researchers argue that wakefulness of 46 hours or less is too little to exhibit a significant effect[2]. Therefore, further work is required to establish this[1,2,3]. Not only does lack of sleep impairs cognitive performance, studi... ... middle of paper ... ...mple of participants, the findings clearly suggest that sleep deprivation affects an individual’s cognitive and motor performance as well as mood[1,2,3]. It can be concluded that overall performance of a sleep deprived individual is worse than those who had sufficient rest[3]. However, further research needs to be done to establish a greater degree of accuracy and understanding on this matter[1,2,3]. Works Cited 1. Alhola P, Polo-Kantola P. Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment. 2007; 3(5):553-567. 2. Huffcutt AI, Pilcher JJ. Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: a meta-analysis. Sleep. 1996; 19(4):318-326. 3. Maddox WT, Glass BD, Wolosin SM, Savarie ZR, Bowen C, Matthews MD, Schnyer DM. The effects of sleep deprivation on information-integration categorization performance. Sleep. 2009; 32(11):1439-1448
Researchers have found a way to connect sleep with education. Gary Scarpello who wrote "Lack Of Sleep Could Be Trouble For CTE Students” , did a research study with liberty mutual showed that teens had an average of 7.2 hours of sleep on school nights and 33 to 75 % of all students have sleep problems. In the article it had stated that not getting enough sleep can cause impaired hand eyed coordination, reaction time and brief mental lapses. (Scarpello). The same researchers also found out that Sleep helps restores brain functions such as alertness, metabolism, and memory and regulate hormones (Scarpello). Researchers Mary A. Carskardon and A.R. Wolfson studied 3,120 Rhode Island children. They had figured out that college students who slept more than nine hours a night had a gr...
Sleep Deprivation and the correlation with depression can cover a range of topics. Stemming from how depression occurs, the symptoms affecting human bodies, treatments, other related sleep disorders. There are several different models used such as the polysomnographic research, (Palagini, 2013) integrative, prospective and retrospective models; along with chronotherapists in a controlled environment stimuli (light and sleep deprivation) seen in Hemmeter’s research was used also in order to conduct the experiments. The literature review critique articles relating to sleep deprivation and correlation with depression.
Evidence for this argument can be seen in the research performed by Williamson & Feyer (2000), which study the relative impairment of sleep deprivation in cognitive and motor performance. They found that fatigue caused by sleep deprivation plays an important role when driving. In fact, it can even compromise the accuracy and safety needed in the road. Furthermore, Rogé, Basheer, Pébayle, Hannachi & Muzet (2003) advocate that sleep deprivation can increase the levels of drowsiness and fatigue, which can cause deficiency when detecting signals or responding to stimulus in a driving simulator. Sleep is an important part of human health, which can help improve our ability to perform tasks. It can also be detrimental to both body and mind. It cannot only cause damage to us but to others. Therefore the effects of sleep play an important role when realizing to what extent it can damage performance and become a risk to
The article "Causes and consequences of sleep deprivation in hospitalized patients" written by Stephanie Pilkington is exploring the causes and consequences of sleep deprivation in hospitalized patients. The author provides a brilliant summary of factors that affect the level of sleep experienced by patients in hospitals and the effects of sleep deprivation on the health and the wellbeing of these individuals. The article goes on to state that for sleep-deprived patients, there were bio-cognitive consequences for their health and recovery, with particular effects on immune functioning, inflammation, parasympathetic equilibrium, carbohydrate metabolism and cognitive performance.
In this experiment conducted by Turner, T.H. et al (2007), the researchers studied a sample of healthy, young individuals. Forty subjects total eighteen who were women spent six full nights and five days at the University of California, at San Diego General Clinical Research Center’s J Christian Gillin Laboratory of Sleep and Chronobiology. For this experiment participants were excluded for reasons such as having psychiatric history, a significant medical condition, or taking nicotine or any illegal substance. Three days prior to the study, participants were requested to halt consumption of any and all alcohol and caffeine. A polysomnography was completed over the course of the first night to identify or rule out the existence of any intrinsic sleep disorder that a participant may have had prior to the study. Furthermore, those being observed had to maintain a habitual sleep schedule of around seven to nine hours per night. After the second night, the total sleep deprivation (TSD) period began, where participants were to remain awake for the duration of the experiment. During TSD, subjects were able to move but were not allowed to take part in strenuous exercise, sun exposure, using of any type of stimulant, or sleeping. Various continuous recognition tests (CRTs) designed to observe working memory and sleep deprivation were administered to the
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the ideas that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleeping, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during consciousness. If all of these important activities occur during sleep, why is it that people are so willing to short themselves of this vital activity? Although much about sleep still remains a mystery, research and experiments continue to show how important sleep is to each and every person. Throughout this paper, I will discuss sleep and the effects that it has on performance and health, especially in college students. A college student’s sleeping pattern is a reliable indicator to their level of performance in the classroom and other school-affiliated activities, as a lack of sleep leads to decreased performance. Sleep is directly related the level of performance and health in an individual; the more rested a person is, the better that person will perform and feel (Dryer, 2006).
Many times people think they can accomplish more if they could eliminate so much sleeping time. However, they are only hurting their productivity if they lose sleep. Two articles deal with the issue of sleep deprivation. The College Student Journal published an article about the grade-point average of college students and sleep length, while U.S. News & World Report produced an article dealing with the lack of
Have you ever stayed up too late? At one time or another most people have probably experienced that feeling where their eyes start to droop and blur. It’s their body telling them they need to sleep… But do they? Many people might think losing a night’s sleep or not sleeping enough is not a big deal, but in fact, continuously lacking sleep does affect people in a bad way. People should know the healthy amount of sleep they need and some solutions to sleeping problems. Sleep deprivation causes physical and mental effects on the human body and can be directly responsible for many fatal accidents.
Sleep deprivation can affect people of all ages, races, and ethnicities but there is a certain group of people that are more likely to get sleep
Past evidence suggests that sleep deprivation negatively affects solidification of memories. This experiment’s role was to confirm whether sleep deprivation does affect memory consolidation. Previous experiments also have shown, in human studies, that learning is improved only through a night of sleep and not through an equal amount of time wakefulness. (Walker, 2005; walker et al., 2003) It has also been noted in rodent studies that that sleep loss that after training does not produce a memory deficit four to six hours after training. (Bjorness et al., 2005; Graves et al., 2003; Smith et al., 1998; Smith & Rose, 1996) The experimenters’ final hypothesis is that sleep deprivation soon after the delay-conditioned task will cause the rats to
Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.
Rasch, Björn, and Jan Born. "About Sleep 's Role in Memory." Physiological Reviews. American Physiological Society, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.
Sleep plays a vital role in a person’s mental well-being. Sleeping affects how well people think, react, work, learn, and get along with others. While a person is sleeping, his brain is preparing to help him learn and remember information. A good night’s sleep enhances learning and problem solving skills. It is very important for the students to have sound sleep as it can improve their concentration, memory and creativity. Furthermore, having enough sleep increases the ability to m...
Wells, M., & Vaughn, B. V. (2012). Poor Sleep Challenging the Health of a Nation. Neurodiagnostic Journal,52(3), 233-249.