Sleep Deprivation In Adolescents

Superior Essays
Show More
Sleep deprivation, which affects the sleep cycle, is a problem plaguing much of the human population. While there are copious amounts of scientific evidence about the consequences and many have authored about the issue, such as William Dement and Paul Martin, many people are still seemingly ignorant to it. Even though studies show that both adults and adolescents in America are becoming more and more sleep deprived, the problem seems to be exponentially more severe in adolescents. Many social, cultural, and biological factors have impeded adolescents from getting the required amount of sleep. Although it appears adolescents are able to cope with sleep deprivation, obedience to modern technology and to the demands of school, coupled with the unawareness of society, affects the sleep cycle of teens. …show more content…
These consequences such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide coupled with the high school system are keeping the students in a vicious cycle. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the early start times of schools are preventing many adolescents from getting the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Getting enough sleep is crucial to adolescents’ health, safety, and academic performance. It seems that many high school students today are struggling with sleep deprivation, this may be in relation to 1 in 5 high schools starting earlier than 8:30am. Schools’ demands to start so early seem to cause adolescents to shift their sleep

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Joan Esherick's Dead On Their Sleep
    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Joan Esherick's Dead On Their Sleep

    In Valerie Strauss’s (2012) news article, “Sleep deprivation and teens: Walking zombies” , it is stated that every high school student appeared to be corpse like, lacking a complete night of sleep. With this mentality the students are left altered and distort their awareness. According to the National Sleep Foundation, American teenagers require about 9-1/4…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Today's Exhausted Superkids Summary
    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Today's Exhausted Superkids Summary

    Frank Bruni’s article, “Today’s Exhausted Superkids” offers his insight on the lack of sleep of teens. This article is a response to Overloaded and Underprepared, and in particular, the passages in the book about sleep. Bruni discusses multiple reasons for the lack of sleep among high school students. He considers anxiety the most prevalent cause. He believes this anxiety is due to students maintaining their status as high-achieving students, acing every test, and staying ahead of their competitive peers.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    I Am Mie Pretlow's The Teenage Brain
    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I Am Mie Pretlow's The Teenage Brain

    I am writing to you on behalf of your influential book, “The Teenage Brain”. Your experience and expertise as a neurosurgeon has me confident in your abilities to understand how much sleep teenagers need for a healthy lifestyle. As a teenager myself, I am constantly in need of more sleep. Not only do my peers and I lack sleep, but also constantly stressing about school and all the tasks we must manage in such a short period of time. I am Mie Pretlow, a current junior at Niceville High School concerned with the nightly sleep schedule of current teens.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Teens Should Start Later Essay
    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Teens Should Start Later Essay

    “Teens need about 8 to 10 hours of sleep per day,” says the National Sleep Foundation’s website, which describes the facts and consequences of sleep deprivation for teens. We have all heard the phrase, yet to most of us this advice seems unrealistic and impossible due to students various extracurricular activities and responsibilities which cause late bedtimes to be a common occurrence for teenagers. Recent research shows that as an adolescent, our biological sleep patterns make it difficult for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 PM. This proves that getting to bed earlier is not a simple solution. Going through the day feeling tired and moody is not beneficial to students nor to schools, teachers, or staff.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    American Academy Should Start Later Essay
    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    American Academy Should Start Later Essay

    Did you know that only one in every five middle and high schools start after 8:30 A.M, yet the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that middle and high schools start after 8:30 A.M. Students that don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight, not engage in daily physical activity, suffer from depressive symptoms, engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco, and using illicit drugs, and perform poorly in school. American Academy should start later because students are more likely to have bad things happen to them, and students cannot learn well when their brains are still asleep. Most students that don’t get enough sleep engage in things that are unhealthy. The CDC states that students who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight, not engage in daily physical activity, suffer from depressive symptoms, engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco, and using illicit drugs, and perform poorly in school. Students that got about nine hours of sleep are more likely to improve their health, mindset, and academic results.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Start Time In High School Essay
    • 1825 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Start Time In High School Essay

    Teens getting less than eight hours of sleep reported significantly higher depression symptoms, greater use of caffeine, and are at greater risk for making poor choices for substance use. Academic performance outcomes, including grades earned in core subject areas of math, English, science and social studies, plus performance on state and national achievement tests, attendance rates and reduced tardiness show significantly positive improvement with the later start times of 8:35 AM or later. Finally, the number of car crashes for teen drivers from 16 to 18 years of age was significantly reduced by 70% when a school shifted start times from 7:35 AM to 8:55 AM.” Wahlstrom, K., Dretzke, B., Gordon, M., Peterson, K., Edwards, K., & Gdula, J. (2014). Examining the Impact of Later School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study.…

    • 1825 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Why Starting School Should Start Later
    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Why Starting School Should Start Later

    Most believe that if teens do not acquire enough sleep at night, that is leads to grumpiness, anger, and aggression. The inability to obtain 9.25 hours of sleep could be led back to many problems. Some inhibitors of sleep include tablets, phones, and video games. Many teens receive these electronic devises at a young age, which teaches them that technology such as video games, television, and various apps are just as much hobbies as playing soccer, running track, or even knitting. Staying up late on these devices interferes with a child’s or teens ability to acquire 9.25 hours of sleep.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Middle School Should Start Later Essay
    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Middle School Should Start Later Essay

    When middle school students start school they are tiered, and many people think that is normal and won’t affect their grades, safety, or health. Well that is incorrect, research shows that less sleep a student has equals a negative effect on their health, grades, and safety. Sleep is an important part of a growing “teen”, but itis also an important to learning and to safety, plus Without a good amount of sleep, students grades will drop drastically. For example, if someone is a straight “A” student, and they get tired more and more frequently, their grades could go from “A’s” to “C’s and D's”.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Why School Should Start Later
    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why School Should Start Later

    It is normal to spend some time in bed before falling asleep. But because many schools start before 8 a.m., those students are falling short of those sleep targets and that can have serious consequences. Chronic sleep loss among teenagers has been associated with poor school performance and a higher risk for depressive symptoms, obesity, cardiovascular problems, risk-taking behaviors and athletic injuries. The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2011 showed that 69% of U.S. high school students get fewer than 8 hours of sleep on school nights, and 40% get 6 or fewer hours. Results from the 2015 survey were virtually identical.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    High School Start Later Essay
    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    High School Start Later Essay

    Changing high school start times is beneficial to student’s health and well being. Many teens only get 6-7 hours of sleep per night due to strenuous school work, although these teens need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night. In many cases it is not easy for teens to get this much sleep because many teens are unable to fall asleep before 11pm out of habit. “Adolescents’ brains are wired to go to sleep late and wake up late, making it difficult for them to get a good night’s sleep before a 7:30 am first period class.” (Ingraham, Washington Post)…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Middle School Start Later
    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Middle School Start Later

    The reasons why some middle school and high school students can’t get enough sleep is because they stay up late watching tv, playing video games, surfing the Internet and the like. This problem can be solved by parents giving their child strict rules about how long they can stay up at night. But some parents don’t usually do that, and just let their kids do what they want to do. Well, there are also parents who actually do that, but some kids can be rebels (like me, for example) and not actually follow the rules. Sometimes, it’s the student’s fault why they can’t get enough sleep.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Sleep Deprivation In College Students
    • 250 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Sleep Deprivation In College Students

    For a social health issue topic, I chose to focus on sleep deprivation specifically in college students. Sleep deprivation is a significant topic because there are negative effects to the brain and body. The brain is unable to improve short-term and long-term memory. The body is not able to regenerate hormones and strengthen immune systems that are usually done while slumber. Also, student’s emotions are altered that cause them to be irritable and prone to be unhappy.…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Effects Of Sleep Deprivation
    • 1536 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Effects Of Sleep Deprivation

    Effects of Sleep Deprivation One of the most basic functions of the human body or any animal is to sleep. Without getting enough sleep, one can die after approximately two weeks. Along the way, however, if the sleep of children or adults is consistently disturbed they can experience a multitude of negative effects that can harm themselves and others. Today, adults and students are losing more sleep than ever before and can fail to understand the negative consequences of sleep deprivation. In the United States alone, approximately 40% of adults are receiving less than the suggested seven to eight hours of sleep (Jones).…

    • 1536 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    The Consequences Of Sleep Deprivation
    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Consequences Of Sleep Deprivation

    Sleep deprivation can come by many different causes. Adolescents need at least nine hours of sleep per night, and this rarely happens. Between their busy schedule and the social media buzz, sleep is not a top priority. This absence of sleep can increase the amount of stress a kid has, ontop of the stress already present from other sources. College students’ busy lifestyles reduce their hours of sleep as they gain hours to socialize instead.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    School Start Time Essay
    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    School Start Time Essay

    They often get less sleep than younger children, but need at least as much. Results from previous studies are shared, stating the importance of sleep during this time in a teenager’s life. “Sleep loss is related to lower academic performance, lower self esteem, higher incidence of depressive symptoms, increased substance use, and an association with being overweight” (Borlase et al., 2013, p. 46). Daytime tiredness…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings