Sleep By Frank Bruni Summary

Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity. Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance and health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night, and most report feeling tired during the day (Nationwide Childrens, 2003). The root of the problem is early school start times.

Sleep deprivation throughout the teen years is a very serious problem, spending most of the day at school, teens who are sleep deprived have an impaired ability to stay alert, pay attention, solve problems, handle stress and retain information. Young

This scholarly journal article deliberates the necessity of sleep and the phenomenon that adolescent children are suffering from a lack of sleep. The loss of sleep can negatively af-fect a teenager’s academic performance, driving capabilities, cognitive abilities and more. Bryant and Gomez provide recommendations for combating the sleep deficiency with teens, which includes their caffeine intake, establishing specific bedtimes, and the use of technology. The authors reference several other articles done specifically on the use of electronic devices and their effects on a person’s ability to sleep.

Frank Bruni expresses his deep thought of the “super” teens becoming exhausted on the high school or college campus in his article, “Today’s Exhausted Superkids”. He supports his main idea by using details of teenagers trying to outrule each other. Bruni begins the article by discussing how sleep needs to be a top priority in students’ lives. Bruni makes very valid points while writing about society’s push for students to become more involved in extracurricular and advanced classes, while also suggesting why more than seven hours of sleep is needed daily.

In addition, with such high academic demands, extracurriculars, volunteer work, and sometimes jobs the children become sleep deprived without even knowing it. Yuan, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics, says, “They say they are tired, but they don’t realize they are actually sleep-deprived. And if you ask kids to remove an activity they would rather not. They would rather give up sleep than an activity” (Richter). Regardless of where they come from of who they are, most teens don’t sleep enough during the week and sleep in on the weekends to compensate for lost sleep. But, many accumulate large amounts of sleep loss that they don’t sufficiently recover on the weekend and become fatigued when Monday comes. This problem needs to be confronted, but with not much importance in today's society it's hard to make a change like pushing back school start times.

Russell Foster has an open discussion of reasons why sleep is important to humans. He mentions that “huge sectors of society are sleep-deprived.” On average, teens need nine hours of sleep for a healthy brain performance. But, nowadays teens are only getting about

This is a very unlikely scenario for teens when time for homework, jobs, socializing, and biologically nessicary functions are taken in to consideration. Not getting enough sleep is not just bad for a student’s health; it is dangerous for everyone around them.

Sleep Foundation, only 15% of teen gets the sleep needed, the rest 85% of teens are sleep deprived. The biggest cause that's keeping teens away from their sleep is school. School is starting too early for a teen to be able to function, waking them up far before they got their daily sleep needed. This problem originated back in the 1970’s, when people shift school hour to an earlier hour for various reasons. As a result teens are waking up earlier than they should be, going against their circadian rhythm. On top of teen’s early wake time, teens are over scheduling, accumulating hours and hours of sleep debt. These sleep deprived teens tend to be more moody, affecting the people around them. ​Teens across the world are sleep deprived because of school start time, and their multiple involvement in activities. Teens tend to overwork on, school, activity, work, and many more, causing them issues academically and physically. People can solve this problem by letting others know about this problem.

Im sure you’ve heard a teenager say “I only get _hours of sleep and i'm fine” However, in the book The Teenage Brain, Frances Jensen shares her research about how many hours of sleep a teenager should get at night and the main causes of sleep deprivation. Teenagers need to be informed that Sleep deprivation among all ages can have a major impact on the actions and lives of people especially teenagers because their brains are developing at such a fast pace. This finding challenges the belief that it’s only a short term effect, like you’ll only be affected the morning ahead. As a result that's why most teenagers grow up to have long term problems or are always stressed.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”, (Benjamin Franklin). One is expected to attend school regularly and perform to their best ability. However, to attend and perform at ones best ability, it is expected that they are in their best state, mentally and physically. Thus, I believe that school should, undoubtably, begin at a later time and end at a later time. I believe that, without question, due to the positive aspects that will result in the students academic, mental and physical conditions. A primary factor in ones mental health is dependant on their quality and quantity of sleep, however, it is said that about 85% of teen students do not achieve this amount. Additionally, in a result to lack of sleep, a increase in stress

To gain the right amount of sleep would mean that a teenager would have to go to bed at 9:30 pm. In the words of the American sleep researcher, Mary Carskadon, “we are asking 16-year olds to go to bed before 10pm. Rare is a teenager that will keep such a schedule.” She also goes to mention that with all the after school activities, such as athletics, clubs, employment, that “the ability even to have merely ‘adequate’ rest is lost.” After a student goes many consecutive days without the right amount of sleep, it can easily trigger sleep deprivation. In effect, the student’s ability to be “alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information.” Losing these attributes in school can lower their decision making which can greatly affect their performance in “everything from academics to athletics.”

Mr. Bruni talks about how little sleep adolescents are getting compared to how much they actually need. A study is mentioned that states about 55% of teenagers, ages 14 to 17, get less than 7 hours of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends teens get 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night. Sleep experts were brought into a school to promote better sleeping habits. Bruni seemed shocked by this because he normally got more than

Frank Bruni’s article is about how students are sacrificing their sleep to gain a competitive edge over their peers. To accomplish academic success, students pile on AP classes, join extracurricular activities, and even stoop as low to cheating. He really emphasizes the fact that sleep is a prerequisite for healthy growth. He finds, in turn, that the problem in today’s school setting is not how to rouse students, but how to lull them. He believes that teens are overloaded on work and need to take time for themselves, and catch up with what is most important to function- sleep.

It is estimated that only 15 percent actually get these amounts (Kids Suffer from Sleep Deprivation). This is particularly important for students who wish to do well in school. Dr. Carl Hunt, the director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, is spearheading a sleep campaign. Her philosophy is, “Sleep well, do well.” This is something that shouldn’t be taken to lightly. Sleep problems effect about 70 million Americans of all ages. Teens often have problems with daytime sleepiness. The old idea of early to bed, early to rise isn’t necessarily the best answer. Society is simply asking to much of teens (Sleep experts to teens). A combination of school, work, study and leisure, leaves very little time left for sleep. Being deprived of sleep definitely has an effect on how well students do in school and may be putting their health at risk. College students who stay up all night to study for a test or write a big paper that’s due often have no choice because of the pressures to do well and succeed, but at what price do they pay?

In adults, lack of sleep already has studied negative effects on health and function. Teens are biologically designed to get more sleep than adults, but are actually still not getting enough. According to psychologist James B. Maas, “Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep.” This could be fatally dangerous as drowsiness causes about 100,000 crashes a year, half of the crashes involving teenagers. Lowering grades and lack of respect can be tied to lack and loss of sleep. According to Maas, attempting to educate the adolescent brain at ridiculously early school times (Typically, before 7:30 am) is practically pointless. He states, “You can be giving the most stimulating, interesting lectures to sleep-deprived kids early in the morning or right after lunch, when they're at their sleepiest, and the overwhelming drive to sleep replaces any chance of alertness, cognition, memory or