Sleep Deprivation In Teenagers

Students,especially students who drive to and from school are also at risk of more car crashes because of sleep deprivation. Additionally getting good sleep is important to maintaining good health,staying awake and alert, and working at peak performance. Although students can simply sleep earlier, many need that time to study and complete homework, with a later start time students can get their homework down and get a sufficient amount of sleep.”According to this research, the ideal amount of sleep for the average teenager falls between 8.5 and 9.5 hours a night, and teenagers who receive adequate sleep benefit from better physical and mental health, safety, and academic performance. It also revealed that puberty causes a “phase delay” in teenagers, which shifts the time that teenagers fall asleep back by two

Sleep is essential for cognitive, emotional, and physical wellbeing, especially those who are developing into young adults. Proper sleep hygiene, defined as “those practices of daily living that promote good sleep and daytime function” is considered to be a rising issue among adolescent high school students.9 An average adolescent would require between 8 and 9 hours of sleep per night to be considered well rested.5 One survey of American adolescents in high school reported that only approximately 14% of those students actually received an adequate amount of sleep.10 Another study estimates that approximately one-third to one-fourth of adolescent population does not obtain adequate sleep.3 Poor sleep hygiene can lead to many factors that will negatively influence high school student’s wellbeing. Lack of sleep has been proven to be a root cause for multiple negative health outcomes, such as: an increase in depressive symptoms, sedentary behavior, decrease in emotional stability, and reduced physical development.1,5 As depressive behavior increases and motivation decreases, it leads to a significant decline in academic performance and consequently affecting daytime function.4 Practicing proper sleep hygiene and building a foundation of good habits begins with the early stage of adolescents in high school.

As a result of a changing body and mind, adolescent sleep cycles have different needs than those of adults or younger children. As a matter of fact, Biologically, sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence -- meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00 pm (“Teens”). In addition to biological change in sleep patterns, teenagers also tend to have eccentric sleep cycles. Obtaining less than healthy hours of sleep during the school week and then catching up on their sleep on the weekends. Most teenagers during the school week, do not get the suggested amount of sleep. In fact, according to a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 80% of teenagers do not get the suggested amount of sleep of 9 hours on school nights (“School Start”). With changing bodies and minds, along with an increased amount of schoolwork and extracurricular activities, teenagers need more sleep than children of a younger age. Experts believe that moving back the start time of school for high school students will improve grades, test scores, and the overall health and personality of many students.

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.

Sleep loss can take a devastating toll on the mind and body at any stage of life from early childhood to older adulthood. But, for teenagers, who are at a critical stage of development, skipping out on sleep can be particularly dangerous. One standout finding is that a lack of sleep affects the body the same way that drinking alcohol does. And like alcohol an insufficient amount of sleep can lead to impairments of mood, affect regulation, attention, memory, behavior control, executive function, and quality of life. In a study of nearly 28,000 suburban high school students, published earlier this year in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, found that each hour of lost sleep is associated with a 38 percent risk of feeling sad or hopeless and a 58 percent increase in suicide attempts. As well teens who sleep an average of six hours per night are also three times more likely to suffer from depression, a 2010 study found. Thus, the correlation between sleep deprivation and depression go hand in hand among teenagers. Also, losing sleep can also have a long-term negative effect on a teens physical health with poor sleep quality being linked to diabetes and obesity risk for teens. Sleep correlates with the well-being of teens, but it also closely relates with academic

School districts expect us to wake up half an hour after the crack of dawn, go to school and while groggy and sleep deprived, and still expect us to surrender our full attention in each and every one of our 6 periods. Sending sleep-deprived teenagers to school as early as 5:30 is dangerously unhealthy, unsafe, and evidently counterproductive. According to the American Academy ofPediatrics, without receiving the appropriate amount of sleep teenagers find it 60% harder to focus in class. Lack of sleep can lead to excessive fatigue, emotional distress, laziness, obesity and a lowered perception of quality of

"Sleep deprivation among american teenagers is an american epidemic," says Wendy Troxel, a sleep researcher. What she is trying to say is that the fact that kids all over america lose the sleep they need is a widespread problem. She even has a entire ‘Ted Talk’ saying how bad sleep is for children's learning and developing brains, and how school is responsible for many of those problems. Kids need to have sleep to function and get good grades.

Most teenagers think that it is cool staying up late with friends, but the lack of sleep is slowly killing you with the toxins of society. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention related lack of sleep to health risks such as being overweight,

Many high school students wander into school each day shuffling around and trying not to pass out in their classes. In order to cut back on sleep-deprived teens, we must follow through with this solution; it would give students enough time to go to bed early and wake up at an appropriate time. According to Sleep Foundation, teenagers require eight to ten hours of sleep and are not getting that with the current schedule. Many teenagers have discombobulated biological clocks and need the opportunity to adjust their sleeping schedule as they see fit. If this plan were to be put into practice, more positive attitudes would emerge from schools all over America due to their fulfilled need of sleep, which would give teachers, students, principals, counselors, and even parents a more productive start to each day. On the other hand, I realize that the opposing side of this intelligent solution may proclaim that some teenagers would abuse this and go to bed even later, but people must also realize that a large amount of teenagers who wish to succeed academically would gladly not abuse this and respect this privilege; although there would be some teenagers to mistreat this, it is up to the maturity level of the student, and they choose whether they want to succeed or

Imagine: a world where a biological necessity is not seen as a priority, and adolescent’s educations are suffering. This is how schools’ think about sleep.What all human beings need to survive is being put on the back burner by most schools in America- sleep(11a). It has been proven through the process of scientific research that sleep is necessary on the same level as food or activity. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation is a chronic health problem that many youths suffer from today. Teens are naturally predisposed to go to sleep around 11 pm, but are forced to wake up around 6:15, not allowing any time for adequate sleep (“Backgrounder: Later school start Times” 1). Irregular sleep patterns during teenage years can cause long-term

Many adults say that sleep is crucial to a human during its adolescent years. It is a proven fact that teens need an average of 8.5 to 9.5 hours a sleep each night, yet two-thirds of high school students are receiving fewer than seven hours of sleep (Howard, “Wake up Calls”). Some might ask, “Why aren’t teens getting the required amount of sleep they need?” This is because adults frequently advise teens to be involved in school activities, receive good grades, turn homework in on time, and maintain a healthy social life. Now, teens do what is advised by adults by taking Advanced Placement classes, playing sports, participating in extracurricular activities, and even getting after school jobs; but they still fall short on getting the required amount of sleep at night. The daily cycle of a teen involved in many school activities consists of not getting home until 7:00 P.M., eating dinner, doing loads of homework, using social media, going to sleep at 11:00 P.M. or later, then waking up the next morning at 6:00 A.M. to get ready for school. As you can see, an involved teen is only getting seven or fewer hours of sleep at night. Since getting an inadequate amount of sleep each night

During this week’s article, “Most High School Students Are Sleep Deprived”, by Sylviane Duval, The author claims throughout the article that most high school students are sleep deprived. The author brings up valid points throughout the article and even gives ideas on how to solve this high school sleep deficient epidemic. Throughout this paper I will point out some of the major strengths and weaknesses I found in this article.

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

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?

Sleep is very important. Many people have probably heard this many times, but often they do not realize how important it really is, especially for adolescents. A scary statistic from the National Sleep Foundation states that driving as a sleep deprived individual is equivalent to driving with a BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) of around 0.08%. Additionally, annually more than 100,000 accidents happen because of sleep deprived drivers(“Teens and Sleep”, p.1). Some people may even know these statistics, but continue to brush off the importance of sleep and trade in those precious hours of sleep for other activities that may not be as necessary, or beneficial to a person’s health and well-being.