Sleep medicine

As mammals, one of our many natural instincts is sleep. The importance of slumber is comparable to the life-sustaining function of eating. In fact, a human being can die from sleep deprivation in a shorter time than starvation. The longest recorded period of sleep deprivation is 264 hours (eleven days) set by 17 year-old Randy Gardener in 1965 and in 2012, when a Chinese man named Jiang Xiaoshan died after eleven days of unrest (Gillian, Chan). Additionally, Scientific American reports that in…

Dangerous start times in Australia be changed to help sleep deprived children? Children and Teens are not getting proper growth opportunities and a major reason to this is the amount of sleep they get which goes back to the ridiculous school start times, there needs to be a change. Other countries are starting to do it, why shouldn’t Australia? Drugs and medicines aren’t going to help or even changing sleeping styles. Children are becoming more and more sleep deprived by the day and if we don’t…

Conflicts with Athletic Schedules and Academic Requirements Chronic sleep loss has repercussions on athlete’s health, safety, and performance when participating in early morning schedules that involve demanding physical exercises and performance. Loss of sleep increases the demands on an athlete’s body that is already experiencing stress from inadequate sleep patterns. Course options are limited that fit around practice schedules and often are impossible to mold class schedules around team…

an increasing amount of pressure to be involved in every activity and club possible in order to stand out in the college admission process. In chapter seven of her book, Robbins argues that this over-involvement can cause sleep deprivation in students. She cites the National Sleep Foundation as reporting this increase in involvement “can cause negative moods, decreased school performance, increased likelihood to try stimulants, and a higher risk of accidents and death. The latter category…

start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) in a position statement. Doctors say that starting school earlier in the morning prevents children and teenagers from getting a full night’s sleep, which can affect their health, safety and academic performance. For years, studies have suggested that later school starts can benefit adolescents and teens, who scientists say are wired to stay up late and sleep in. It asserts that if middle- and high-school students…

In the words of John Steinbeck, ‘It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” In other words, we are able to make better decisions when we are well rested. In this manner, just as eating and breathing, the act of sleep represents one of the physiological needs according to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. As a matter of fact, the stage pyramid proposed by Maslow comprises a motivational theory based on…

affect their health. School should start later because it interferes with sleep and leads to higher rates of obesity, depression and motor-vehicle accidents among teens. School should start later because of sleep deprivation. Sadly, teens are getting enough sleep because school is starting very early. According to TheAtlantic.com, “Both the CDC and the pediatricians’ group cited significant risks that come with lack of sleep, including higher rate of obesity”(Richmond). Therefore, teens who do…

Sleep serves to restore the body from the stresses life brings, but what happens to the body when it lacks adequate sleep? The belief is that this deficiency wreaks havoc on all aspects of life, including academic performance, behavior, and physical health. In today’s society, the importance of sleep is commonly overlooked, despite the fact that it pertains to all people, of all ages, all over the world. Teenagers, specifically, have fallen victim to factors that hinder their ability to attain…

Many people realize that sleep plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy body, but many times they put it at the bottom of their priority list due to the hectic life style of today’s society. It has been known that factors such as your health, age, gender, etc. have played a big influence on how much sleep you need in order to function well the following day. Scientist are now pointing at two factors that influence how much sleep you need: sleep need, the amount of sleep you need in order to…

A national sleep foundation poll found that 59% of 6th through 8th graders, as well as 87% of high schoolers, are getting less than the recommended amount of sleep on school nights. This often affects how attentive kids are when they get to school and can have a negative impact on the rest of their day. When students are tired they often don't take in the information they would otherwise pick up with an adequate amount of sleep. Starting classes at middle school and high schools no earlier than…