Sleep deprivation is a growing demimma in the United States, mainly for teens and high school students. This is a result of high schools starting too early, which forces the adolescents to be tired throughout the course of the day. However, being tired isn’t the only issue. Not getting enough slumber is poor for your well-being, it takes its toll on your grades, and you have a much greater chance of being injured. There should be a law requireing schools to start no earlier than eight o’clock.
When people get an hour less sleep per night, they become a downer. According to Megan Erbacher, a journaslist for the Courier Press, not getting enough sleep is related to life-threatening illnesses and even earlier death. Most youngsters cannot get enough sleep, because their school start times are too early. As a result, they have no way to fight back on these health effects other than to get to bed early. But face it, teenagers are up until 11 o’clock playing video games, texting, or doing homework, and there is no way they would give those up, even if it meant more sleep. In this account,...
However, not everyone gets the 7-9 hours of sleep they need on a regular basis. In a study done by the National Institute of Health, one-third of Americans get less than 7 hours of sleep and more than 70% of high school students are not getting enough sleep on a school night (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute 2012). Sleep deprivation is slowly becoming a global issue that the general population, especially students, are not very concerned about. This lack of concern is worrisome because sleep deprivation can have negative effects on a person’s lifestyle, especially on their physical health and their performance in
How many times has this happened to you; it’s six thirty on a Tuesday morning, your alarm has already gone off twice, your still laying in bed and your bus comes in twenty minutes. This is an everyday occurrence at my house. It is a proven statistic that the average high school student does not get enough sleep. While some experts like Dr. Lee Yanku say “It is not the schools starting time that is the problem as to why students don’t get enough sleep, it is because of facebook, myspace and cell phones” The truth behind it is that we can’t budget sports, homework and extracurricular activities into one day and still get nine hours of sleep. This is hurting student’s academic averages and needs to change. Changing the school time will help boost academic averages among students, and isn’t th...
The article, Today’s Exhausted Superkids, makes several valid points about the teenage generation lacking sleep each night. According to Frank Bruni, the reason for this is caused by cell phones, social media, schoolwork, and friends. I agree very much with this article because I can relate to it. I completely agree school work and cell phones have a major impact on the amount of sleep teenagers get.
One of the many arising problems of America’s students is they are becoming sleep deprived. The busy daily schedules of children and teens are not allowing them to get enough sleep. “Less sleep is unhealthy especially with the new research that as teenagers move through teenage years, they need increasing amounts of sleep. Nine hours per night is the necessary amount to avoid behaviors associated with sleep deprivation” (Final Report Summary, 2001). Among other things, sleep deprivation is causing students to sleep during class instead of being awake and aware. When the students are sleeping in class, they are not retaining information being taught to them. Researchers have now proven that the majority of adolescents retain more information later in the day. Contrary to this information, America’s school systems are programmed to begin early in the day, which according to the sleep rhythms of most teenagers, they should still be sleeping.
Studies conducted over a nearly 30 year span have consistently shown only a small fraction of adolescents get the 9 or more hours of sleep they require to function at their best. While teenagers are notorious for causing their own sleep difficulties, sleep loss among adolescents is confined primarily to school nights. “Sleep deprivation is epidemic among adolescents, with potentially serious impacts on mental and physical health, safety, and learning. Most teenagers undergo a biological shift to a later sleep-wake cycle, which can make early school start times particularly challenging.” says
Sleep is extremely important to all of us, but students and teens aren't getting enough of it and it’s a problem. When teenage students are tired, that increases obesity, illness, anxiety, and depression. No parent or teacher wants their kids to have those qualifications so that's one of the reasons why school should start later.
It’s seven thirty in the morning, the time that most American high schools begin class. Instead of being chipper and ready to learn, most teenagers, at this time of the morning, can barely remain awake. These puffy eyed pupils are by no means ready to learn. Sixty percent children under 18 reported being sleepy during the day, with another fifteen percent reporting that they had fallen asleep during the school day within the past year (National Sleep Foundation, Dozing). Though adolescents require a larger amount of sleep than younger children, they usually receive much less (Indiana University Center for Adolescent Studies). The amount of sleep a teenager receives affects him or her both physically and mentally. Sleep deprived teenagers are more likely to be irritable, be depressed, not perform up to their capabilities in school, and have a decreased ability to handle complex tasks (National Parent Information Network). Though teenage sleep deprivation is a big problem, some simple solutions such as rescheduling the school day to fit teenagers’ biological needs, setting consistent sleep schedules, and teaching children the importance of proper sleep habits can easily remedy this problem.
You’re in your bed sleeping peacefully when all of a sudden you’re jolted awake by your alarm. You drag yourself out of bed, having only gotten five hours of sleep. Does that sound like a nightmare? For many students, that’s a reality. Many students feel they aren’t getting enough sleep which can lead to more problems at school; therefore, school should start later in the day because it would increase grades, keep students safer, and allow teenagers to get enough sleep.
70% of high school students, like you and me, are sleep deprived; this means getting less than 7 hours of sleep. The teenage body needs relevant to 8 to 10 hours of sleep because the body is going through an important stage of growth and development. We get this sleep at delayed hours, like 11 p.m. and 12 a.m., due to chemical imbalance during our teenage years. In behalf of this delayed balance and early rising for school purposes, the body and brain are negatively impacted. The only known solution to this epidemic is schools having a later start time. Schools should start later because it could eliminate mental disorders and improve health, causing classroom grades to exceed.
Officials have been searching for a way to alleviate the problem of teen sleep deprivation for decades. In the 1990s State Legislatures and Congress passed acts on when schools should start. In an attempt to lessen sleep deprivation and crime, the Minnesota State Legislature passed a bill in 1997-98 prohibiting schools from starting before 8 a.m. (Pappas). Similarly, in 1998 the
Every day in the United States, students find themselves lying in bed struggling to get out of bed and prepare himself for the school day. Teenagers have spent too much time the night before on social media or watching netflix. However, current research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that biological and physiological factors play a major role in determining how teenagers’ brains simply are not designed to sleep more than a few hours each night, and as a result, teens are sleepy and have trouble focusing on school work in their early morning classes, and they exhibit behavior issues and reckless driving. This issue is not an easy matter to resolve without facing some difficulties, but every problem requires some sacrifices to become feasible. The solution is complicated, but for the sake of safety and success, schools should change start times so that
Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem called sleep deprivation. (“Backgrounder: Later School Start Times.”). First off, there are some benefits of starting school later. When starting school later in the day, it reduces the risks of stimulant and other substance abuse, and high-risk health behaviors especially during early unsupervised hours in the afternoon. (“What’s the Big Deal?”). Returning to later, healthier, safer, evidence-based school hours is a reform with the potential to improve the health, safety, and academic achievement of all students, immediately and often at low or even no cost. (“What’s the Big Deal?”). Schools in America should start later in the day to end sleep deprivation.
According to the Atlantic.com for the first time, the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouringing education policymakers to start middleschool and highschool classes later in the morning. This is happening because both teens and kids cannot seem to put their full potential forward academically and physically, while being sleep deficient. According to the Center for Disease control kids should get 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night. Both the CDC and National Pediatricians Group said that lack of sleep can lead to higher chances of obesity, and depression, and higher risk of car accidents in teens, as well as lower quality of life. Head of the CDC
Carpenter, S. (n.d.). Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health. http://www.apa.org. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.aspx
In this paragraph, I will elucidate on how sleep deprivation is associated with low academic performance, poor health, depression, mood disorders and drowsy driving in adolescents. I will substantiate my argument using statistics and studies, performed by researchers in my sources. I will also be defining cardinal terms such as circadian rhythms, sleep deprivation and neurocognitive functioning. Finally, I will present my thesis statement and introduce academic performance and health effects of sleep deprivation as the two