Sleep Deprivation And Memory Loss: The Lack Of Sleep

How many times have you gone through your day with only a few hours of sleep? The side effects, such as decreased memory, irritability, and drowsiness, seem extremely prevalent throughout all daily activities. Without enough sleep, the body’s over all health begins to deteriorate. As Thomas Decker stated, “Sleep is that golden chain that ties our health and our bodies together.” One of the more apparent repercussions is decreased memory. This is because as we sleep information and memories are consolidated, helping you remember it the next day. Therefore, when there is a lack of sleep, information cannot be stored in to brain. For example, it can be expressed when a student spends all night studying for an exam and not being able to remember the information the next day. However, scientists are perplexed about how this process works. These lapses in memory can also effect even the most simple routine tasks such as forgetting to brush your teeth in the morning, or not bringing your backpack to school. Although it may seem like a minuscule problem, memory loss caused by sleep deprivation affects almost 22 million Americans each year. …show more content…
For example, studies have shown that subjects who had 4.5 hours of sleep or less, express negative emotions such as stress, anxiety depression, and irritability more often. However, after the subjects slept for an adequate time ,which is approximately eight hours, the subjects experienced an improvement in their mood. As one Harvard study showed , “ Sleep and mood are closely connected; poor or inadequate sleep can cause irritability and stress, while healthy sleep can enhance well-being.” This further explains how the lack of rest can cause mood changes, but can be reversed with a healthy amount of