Darian Oates
Ms Lisa Fleton
Biology Lab 93L room 124
10/4/2016
Sleep Deprived or Not
Humans like all animals need sleep, food, water and oxygen to survive. Sleep is a vital indicator of overall health and wellbeing. Good sleep is important, but many people do not sleep for the hours recommended. Sleep needs vary across the ages and are effected by lifestyle and the overall health of the person. Many factors such as caffeine, alarm clocks, and external lights affect circadian rhythm which is the sleep and wake cycle. To find out how much sleep is needed one should look at a sleep chart or consult their physician in order to create a plan to increase sleep patterns and decrease the uneven balance of wake and …show more content…
Not getting enough sleep is called sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation can cause a slower reaction time and fatigue. Being sleep deprived is very dangerous. Sleep deprived people were tested on their hand eye coordination by using a driving simulator and the sleep deprived person did worse than intoxicated people. A person who does not get enough sleep and drinks alcohol will be more impaired compared to a drinker that gets good sleep. Driver fatigue is the cause of 72,000 car accidents per year (May, & Baldwin, 2011). Even coffee and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of major sleep deprivation. Many diseases and conditions come from sleep deprivation such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. A lack of sleep makes it very easy for a person to become depressed and withdrawn. In some instances, according to research, a gamblers heart who goes on for days without getting adequate sleep is compared to the heart of a drug addicted person who has been binging on strong narcotics where there heart rhythms are altered and strained to the extent that both can result in death (Zipes & Wellens, …show more content…
In order to assess the root cause of a self-reported sleep issue researchers suggest a best practice of allowing a medical person to determine the best fix. Prior to the onset of the technologically advanced society, this diagnosis was simple to understand and easier to treat. Now this issue can at times cause suffers to plan wake and sleep patterns and prescription treatments have been given. With the inclusion of medical staff self-reported sleep issues allow for more comprehensive treatment options that can lead to long term healthy sleep patterns. Situations where self-reporting is not done, the medical professional has difficulty determining the depth from which the sufferer is battling a sleep disorder or if it is indeed an issue or not (Wolfson, Carskadon, & Acebo, 2013). As noted in the research one of the most difficult treatment plans to diagnose and treat are those of adolescent and college age students since they are often influenced by their peers on what is a “cool” time to be awake and those hours that one should be awake (Wolfson et al., 2013). When any of these groupings fail to gain the treatment needed this becomes an adult disorder and if long term sleep health is not achieved it begins to create other medical issues related to heart and immune disorders (Wolfson et al., 2013). Since society believes in staying abreast of everything that goes on through social media and gaming;