A “mean girl” in high school once said, “raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by sleep deprivation,” or something to that effect. Lack of sleep among teenagers is becoming a serious problem in today’s world. Stanford Medicine News Center states that in a 2006 National Sleep Foundation poll, more than eighty-seven percent of high school students in the United States get less than the required eight to ten hours of sleep per night (Richter). That is a ridiculous amount of students who are willing to put themselves at risk for a number of different negative consequences just to get a few hours in the day back. Why are students so quick to deprive themselves of sleep, and what is going to happen if they continue to do so? …show more content…
I know when I do not get enough sleep I become less focused in class because of drowsiness and outright exhaustion. Like I stated before, when students are sleep deprived they cannot focus, which prevents them from learning the material being taught in class. If they do not learn the material, they cannot do the hours of homework they were assigned, and if they cannot do their homework, they will get a bad grade in the class. If they get a bad grade in one class, they probably have bad grades in all of their classes, and when a student accumulates a multitude of bad grades it means they are most likely going to fail the grade, which will ruin their entire life. To recap, sleep deprivation ruins …show more content…
In his book, Sleep and Affect: Assessment, Theory, and Clinical Implications, Matthew Felder explains how sleep deprivation affects the brain and specifically the part of the brain that controls emotions (qtd. in Hall). In an interview with the Huffington Post he says, “Current thinking suggests the impact of sleep loss on emotion is likely very complex. One leading idea is that losing sleep impairs functioning of the prefrontal cortex region of the brain. This region of the brain is involved in complex behavior and thinking, including regulating emotional experience. Therefore, it is likely that impaired functioning of the prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in elevated emotionally observed among sleep-deprived people, because our nervous system is less able to reduce emotion once it has been triggered (qtd. in Hall). So besides the lack of focus in class, sleep deprivation can be a serious issue and can cause a lot of harm to everyone
That is because sleepiness slows down the brain’s thought process, making it difficult for students to pay attention to the material being learnt, as well as performing tasks in school. In an experiment done by Dawson and Reid, they found that sleep deprivation affects psychomotor skills in a way very similar to being intoxicated. 40 participants were repeatedly tested for hand-eye coordination at half hour intervals when sleep deprived for a 28 hour time period, and on a different day the same group of participants repeated the test while intoxicated. The results showed that being sleep deprived for 17 hours had the same effect on the participants as having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05%, and at 24 hours had the same effect of a BAC of about 0.10% (Dawson and Reid 1997). A graph correlating hours of sleep deprivation with BAC and mean relative performance can be seen in Appendix A. This experiment shows how sleep deprivation can affect a student’s ability to perform physical tasks in school, since their level of performance decreases significantly after 13 hours of being awake. If a student is expected to perform tasks requiring precise motor skills, such as doing precise measurements in a practical lab for example, they are less likely to do as well since their performance level would be impaired by lack of
It is true that sleep deprivation is a widespread issue, generally resulting from early start times. It is also a serious one; according to a study by Harvard Medical School, sleep deprivation can lead to issues such as obesity, heart disease, difficulty learning, and can genuinely shorten a person’s lifespan. As Robbins explains, teenagers have a different internal sleep clock than other age groups. It is most healthy for students in high school to go to bed around 11 and wake up around 9. Since school often begins as early as 7, students are told they simply need to go to bed early, around 8 or 9 PM. This contention does not take into account the fact that humans are biologically not wired this way, and it's virtually impossible for most teens to fall asleep this early. It also doesn't take into account that with clubs, sports, church, volunteering, other extracurriculars and hours of homework, students often struggle to start their homework before their suggested “bedtime”. It is contended that students can control their own schedules so that they can get more sleep. However, pressure from parents and peers to get into a “good” college can cloud students’ perceptions of what is right for them, making them choose to overwork themselves in order to build impressive resumes. I myself can identify with this phenomenon. During the weekdays alone, I volunteer two nights a
The amount of sleep teenagers are lacking is leading to depression, anxiety, and in some cases, suicide in high school and college students. There are many dangers caused by the lack of sleep in young adults. Also, sleep is a major part of growing a healthy body and performing your best at school and/or work. I slack at school when I do not get enough rest because I am drained of energy, have no
Though there are many facets to the subject of sleep, our team has decided to focus on the vital role sleep plays in people’s lives, specifically college students, as well as the numerous methods that can be used to make sleep more effective. Research has consistently proven the importance of a regular sleep schedule. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute promotes this idea, and offers several tips for getting enough sleep while leading a busy life.[1] For instance, it helps to keep the same sleep schedule on weeknights and weekdays. Also, avoiding heavy exercise and artificial bright lights within an hour of going to sleep ensures a more restful sleep. This is especially true for devices like computers and cellphones, the light of which interrupts melatonin production, thus disrupting sleep. Avoiding heavy meals, alcoholic beverages, nicotine, and caffeine within a couple hours of sleeping helps prime the body for a more restful sleep, as well. In fact, the effects of caffeine can last
Sleep deprivation is very common in adolescents and can contribute to many different problems that can be avoided with simple changes in daily sleep routines. According to the article, “young and sleep deprived” by Karen Weintraub many psychologists want to persuade middle schools and high schools to push back start times to increase safety and performance in their students’ everyday lives. They claim that the reason why teenagers are drowsy and experience impaired attention span in class is because of sleep deprivation. Psychologists claim this because students around the United States are waking up before their circadian rhythms or internal clocks tell them to awake. Therefore, if students awake before their circadian
This is also proven by a study, which shows that students who perform worse on their exams seem to be more stressed and suffer from poor sleep quality (Ahrberg, Dresler, Niedermaier, Steiger, & Genzel, 2012). For instance, student A is a freshman at Ball State University. This student only sleeps for 6 hours because of bad sleeping habits and later on he sleeps for only 4 hours because of the new environment which has many factors that affect his sleep schedule such as social life, school activities or extracurricular activities. Then sleep deprivation is starting to affect him. He have a test the next day and studied the whole night and only slept for 2 hours. The next day, while he was having the test, he started to feel very tired, sleepy and stressed. He couldn’t concentrate on the test so he failed the test. He started to feel more stressed because of bad grades which might make him take the course again. He couldn’t sleep for more than 4 hours and these bad cycle repeats. Moreover, high stress could also affect the emotion of the students. It can also cause depression which can significantly decrease the academic performance and grade point average of a student. Stress caused by sleep deprivation can really have a big effect on
Sleep deprivation is a major problem among today’s youth. Only 15% of youth reported getting more than 8.5 hours of sleep on a school night. Teens tend to stay up and sleep in late on weekends, disrupting the natural sleep cycle. This makes it harder to sleep during the week. This can cause a variety of sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, insomnia, sleep apnea, among other things.
Certainly people can get by with less hours of sleep, but it is unhealthy. Sleep is essential to the human bodies health, lacking sleep can cause stress, anxiety, and even depression because the body is deprived and not awakened. As a matter of fact in a study conducted among students it was shown in a result that students are more concerned about accomplishing their responsibilities than sleep, “the dominant themes represented were: perceptions of clinical practice, coping, personal issues, and balancing school, work, and personal life,” and nursing students have even greater concern with grades from the pressure of being in an accelerated nursing program (Chernomas and Shapiro, 2013). Overall, sleep deprivation presents more risk in students from ages of adolescence to middle age adults, who also face many roles during this significant stage of the their lives. During annual check ups it is important to inform the doctor if sleep deprivation or fatigue is occurring when obtaining insufficient
Most high school teens and middle school teens don't get enough sleep, you are supposed to have 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night. Teachers and other educational people know this but they don't do anything to stop it. It is a scientific fact that teens learn more efficiently when they are well rested. Teenagers won't fall asleep later so they are continually losing sleep. There may be many causes why this is harmful in school relations but it is also dangerous in general, if students are too tired or over powered that can cause some dangerous side effects for example: getting in car accidents, alcohol, and cigarettes just so they can stay up longer.
Sleep is important to your body and health (Strauss). Not having enough sleep can cause acne (Strauss). Sleep helps athletes play better, but when athletes don’t have enough sleep will be more likely to have more injuries (Lewis). With kids not getting enough sleep they suffer from relatable symptoms such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome(Strauss). Teens that don’t get enough sleep are more likely to do drugs, drink alcohol, and cause depression and suicide(Lewis). Most teens need at least eight to nine
Sleep deprivation takes control over your whole body and starts to impact certain areas that can be prone to illnesses or diseases because “sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels,” stated by the Harvard Health Institution. Therefore, without the right amount of sleep needed everyday can have a risky affect such as chronic health problems. The whole concept of sleep is for humans to regain their strength and energy which allows all the systems in their body to operate. Although, there is so much that sleep can do to force things on students and lead to all these disastrous pain into hurting their mental health. These effects are seen more in youngsters in which what they do their own bodies. The most common is “that sleep disruption-which affects levels of neurotransmitters and stress hormones, among other things, wreaks havoc in the brain, imparing thinking and emotional regulation.” This results in their physical health to produce symptoms like insomnia or cause
According to the National Sleep Foundation, 33% of high school students fall asleep during school. Most people claim that the students being tired is due to them simply staying up too late, but that is not always the case. The way that the school start times are set up, now it is nearly impossible to get the amount of sleep that students need to function. With the biological sleep clock of students having them fall asleep at 11:00pm and then having to be up at 6:00 in the morning to get ready, the ten-hour goal is unachievable.When students are sleep deprived their focus and attention drift more easily making it significantly harder to pay attention in class. The lack of sleep also impacts students memory, the brain has to work harder to be able to retrieve previously learned information (Sleep, Learning, and Memory). Students who have gotten a good night rest are proven to pay more attention in
Dr. Steven Feinsilver, the director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, described the mental effects of sleep deprivation as causing "tremendous emotional problems" and that it has been used for torture (Mann, Jeff). The director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, psychology professor David Dinges, said that people who are not getting enough sleep can receive physical and mental damages. This has been shown in many research results over the past years. Meanwhile, he also has a similar opinion to Dr. Feinsilver: depriving one's sleep on purpose is very inhumane, considering the serious emotional damage of sleep deprivation. Research shows that while being sleep deprived our brain does not function and cognize correctly. It can be hard for people with a lack of sleep to recognize other people's emotions, which might cause many unnecessary problems such as arguments and misunderstandings that could affect people's social relationships. People in a condition of lack of sleep don't show a positive look on their faces, either. They may also make mistakes in recognizing other people’s facial expressions. Other people's neutral face may seem negative to a sleep deprived person while their happy face may seem neutral (“Sleep and Mood”, Mann, Jeff, Miller Sarah G. , “What Are Sleep
Preliminary Thesis Statement: Sleep deprivation has detrimental effects on the health and academic performance of students.
It has been proven that having a lack of sleep can cause mental health problems. In fact, psychologist Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley,