Sleep Deprivation In The United States

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Sleep deprivation is a serious issue in America. According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 45% of Americans report daily difficulties as a result of their sleep deprivation, and about 30% reported sleeping six or fewer hours a day. Though, sleep deprivation is a big concern in the United States due to its cognitive and learning impairments, the effects of sleep deprivation in mood and emotions is not. That said, in this paper, we will discuss how sleep deprivation can affect emotional regulation in people, the brain regions involved and the general benefits of sleep in people dealing with psychiatric conditions. Sleep plays an important role in our lives. On average, humans need to sleep 8-9 hours a day. Although there is uncertainty …show more content…
Many psychologists and clinicians have reported that sleep deprivation can cause emotional instability in people, for example, sleep deprived individuals has shown to be angrier, irritable and be short- tempered to situations than adequate sleepers. Though, in many cases, this will not result in violent, it can affect both children and adults’ emotional behavior and lead them to act angrily and violently. For example, in a study of children between 2 and 14-year-old, researchers found that children who had sleep breathing disorder had significantly more behavioral issue, parent aggression and conduct disorder than children who slept normally. Furthermore, studies have also reported the same for young and older adults. In a study of sleep deprivation, they establish that man who habitually sleep 7-8 hours scored higher on anger and irritability test than men who sleep averagely 9-10 hours (Kamphuis et al., 2012). That said, it appears that lack of sleep can affect emotional dysregulation in …show more content…
For example, sleep hygiene and sleep restriction has generally enhanced sleep quality by reducing behavior that promotes sleep deprivation. In addition, behavioral sleep therapy has also been shown to promote good sleep quality and reducing aggressive behavior in people with psychiatric conditions. For example, in a research name by Kamphus, they found that adolescents with conduct behavior reported significantly less aggressive behavior and violent outburst after receiving sleep behavioral therapy than adolescents who did not. Although, we do not know whether these effects are psychological or physiological, it appears that the relationship between sleep and angry outbursts are mutual. In other words, sleep therapy can help people with their emotional dysregulation, but lack of adequate sleep can affect their mood and emotional interaction. Though, it is possible that certain individuals are just more susceptible to emotional consequences such as people with psychiatric conditions, research however has suggested that adequate sleep will generally help all people regardless of their individual differences. For example, in a study by Jeanine Kamphus pf psychiatric patients, she found that sleep disturbances appear to be a predictor of aggressive behavior in patients with psychological illnesses. Likewise, she found that those patients who sleep better reported to be more emotional stable,

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