The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Teens

Wake-Up Call: Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Teens Many adolescents, in today’s society, suffer from sleep deprivation due to late nights spent cramming for tests and late nights spent partying. Teens often spend their days fighting to stay awake in class and obtaining as much caffeine as they can in order to do so. Academics play a crucial role in the teenage years. From elementary school to high school and most importantly, college, students are striving to achieve academic success to better their future; however, with an imbalance in the amount of sleep teens should be getting, their academic performance severely suffers from their behaviors. Long and short-term sleep deprivation can lead to many negative effects on the body and cause …show more content…
Each of the participants participated in a series of different neurobehavioral tests. These tests then measured the participant’s sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, sleepiness, and fatigue every two hours during wakefulness (Louca). The results from each of these tests proved that adolescents perform at a significantly lower rate in each of these areas due to only one night of little …show more content…
People who are suffering from sleep loss tend to resort to other options to help them stay awake. These other options can include some form of caffeine or sugary late night snacks, which can ultimately lead to acquiring diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is known as an insulin production deficiency by the pancreas, and can be inherited and/or acquired. (Feature 1). People can acquire diabetes mellitus from an increase in sugar intake. This is related to the long-term health effects of sleep deprivation because many people increase their caffeine intake to help them stay awake during the day. For instance, in one can of Red Bull (12 fl. oz.), people are consuming 37 grams of sugar (How Much Sugar). People who follow these eating behaviors increase their chances of acquiring the disease. The increase in caffeine and sugar intake combined with late night snacking can also promote weight gain, which may also lead to obesity. It is said that people should not consume food past 8:00 p.m. this is because the body cannot as easily digest the contents causing the food to be stored as fat throughout the body (AIDabal). Sleep deprived people tend to want snacks with more sugar content and will also snack more throughout the day. This consistent pattern can cause serious weight gain and potential