Teenage Sleep Deficit Research Paper

It is a well known fact that teenagers in general need more sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation: “[teenage sleep] is as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage stress of being a teen.” When schools start as early as 7 o’clock, it puts students health at risk. Adolescents already have a natural shift in their internal body clock, or circadian rhythm when it comes to sleep. Puberty allows this to happen, causing a “sleep phase delay” of about two hours. When teens can't fall asleep until late and school starts so early, they aren't getting nearly enough sleep. Lack of such, according to CDC, makes the individual

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.

Some people may ask, “Why don’t teenagers just go to bed earlier, instead of having school later?” This is a common concern for parents and teachers as well. The fact is, adolescents have different sleeping patterns than adults do. Throughout the day, teenagers are most tired during the morning, and most alert at night (Cerve 4). “The body’s internal clock shifts after puberty, making it

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 article by the National Sleep Foundation describes how adolescents today are not getting the recommended amount of sleep and in return do not perform appropriately or at their maximum level at school. Through different scientific studies it was discovered that adolescent NATURALLY fall asleep at 11 P.M. or later. One study looked at the melatonin secretion in patients and how it occurred later at night in adolescents. Through research the National Sleep Foundation has urged schools to synchronize school clock with student body clocks (If teens naturally fall asleep at 11 P.M. and require 9.5 hours of sleep, school should start approximately at 9:00-10:00 A.M., 1 to 3 hours after current SC school start times). This sources supports my claim to start school later and provides support research about the negative aspects of sleep deprivation in adolescents and the importance of reforming school start times

There may be some of you out there who simply believe, “Why don’t they just go to sleep earlier?” The truth is, that the biological clock in adolescents can change on average two hours from middle school into high school, which means that they are supposed to go to sleep at 11 and wake up at around 8 (“Teens Need”). This time frame is not taken into account in high school start times, which suggest adolescents going to sleep at 9 and waking up at 6. The time suggested by the schools goes against a high schooler 's biological clock, leaving most teens going to sleep around 11 and waking up at an average time of 5:30; a mere 6 ½ hours of sleep is achieved with this time frame, 3 hours less than what has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maloney-Dunn). The American Academy of Pediatrics suggest a high school start time of 8:30 or later

Research shows that teens sleep cycles are naturally delayed (Should High School Start Later, 2013). About fifteen percent of high schools start at 8:30am or later and, forty percent of schools start earlier than 8:00 am (SiOWfa, 2014). The start times of schools are reducing the amount of sleep a student is receiving on school nights. Most teens start their day at 5:30-6:30 am to prepare for school, but if their natural bedtime is 11 pm or even midnight, they are getting only 6-7 hours of sleep! Remember that teens need at least 8 hours to function properly. To fix this issue schools will have to start later.

Scientists have tested and proved that teenagers need nine to ten hours of sleep each night, sadly that does not happen. Various studies from several sleep foundations have been conducted and they have found that teens do not get the amount of sleep they need. “68% of high school students sleep less than eight hours” (Bratsis). Out of all the teens in America only 14% actually gets the correct amount of sleep each night (Boergers 4). Schools are accepting these later start times to help their students with getting the sleep they need and so melatonin can not get in the way of how much sleep teens get. Melatonin is a big

If students come to school with their brain’s not fully functioning yet because of the lack of sleep they had gotten, it would be extremely difficult to do any work. This can lead to low test scores and an impact on their grades and scores. In Source A, Nancy Shute states, “We truly believe that our teenagers are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night, and they need eight to 10.” (page 1). Many teens aren’t getting the full sleep that they need. Instead they are losing three to four hours of sleep. This amount of lack of sleep can cause student’s to be tired while they are at school. Although there have been many reports insisting that teens should be getting eight to ten hours of sleep, only 15 percent of high schools have embraced the change and made their school start at 8:30 or later. Even worse the percentage of high schools that are starting before 8 a.m. is 40 percent. Some may argue their point that middle and high schoolers can sleep at an earlier time to gain the sleep they lose, but pediatricians say that as children become teenagers their sleep-wake cycle changes. According to Source A, Nancy Shute states, “As children become teenagers, their sleep-wake cycle shifts two hours late, so it’s

The human body functions on a circadian rhythm. This rhythm determines the nightly sleep cycle by telling the body to secrete a hormone called melatonin, only stopping when good night’s sleep has been received. In teenagers, melatonin starts secreting around 11pm and does not stop until 8am. This is a problem because many schools start well before 8am, so students are showing up to school sleep deprived, tired and unprepared for the day. Not to mention, many students have had to stay up much later than 11pm to finish homework. Many experience poor memory and are underperforming on

With nearly ⅔ of the adolescent population getting under seven hours of sleep a night (at least eight point five is needed) sleep deprivation in teens is becoming a major problem. And early school start times don’t help. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 43% of U.S. high school students have a starting time of 8:00 or earlier. This forces kids to wake up earlier; depriving them of their essential sleep hours. As a result, there are multiple potentially harmful effects.

During puberty the sleep-wake cycle of an adolescent changes. This change called “phase delay” creates about a two hour later sleep onset time and wake time in adolescents during puberty that causes teens to get their best sleep between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 8 A.M. (Kanwal; Figlio; “Wake up Calls”). During adolescent years, a teen’s sleep drive is modified. The concentration needed to fall asleep moves slower which makes it take longer for a teen to fall asleep (Kanwal). Biology is blatantly telling us to start schools at a later time for the sake of

Why have schools not changed their start times; do they not care or do not believe that it matters to students that much? Our brains release the sleep hormone melatonin as a signal that allows us to fall and stay asleep. In preteens and adults, the secretion of melatonin is flexible and variable, and sleep timing preferences are genetically based. But the timing is different in teens, as it is related to puberty. Looking back to John's day, his mom had been waking up at 5:30 am for 10

Research indicates that America’s sleep problems have increased and might be the number one health problem. The average amount of sleep that people get per night can range anywhere from three to twelve hours. According to Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania, it is a fact that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night do not live as long as people who get seven hours or more. Most people do not realize the importance of sleep or even realize that it is needed to survive. Many people experience sleep deprivation; however it is commonly seen in college students. Irregular sleeping patterns tend to occur in students, which can later lead to long-term effects.

To begin, teenagers often struggle with drowsiness throughout the day, especially in the morning. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has published that the circadian rhythms of teens run at a later schedule than adults. A circadian rhythm, also known as a body clock, is how a body keeps track of time and decides when to sleep and when to be awake. Teenagers begin to feel tired later at night, near 11:00 or 12:00 pm, and begin to wake up closer to 8:00 or 9:00 (Owens). The early wake-up required for Xavier is generally at least and hour and a half earlier than a teenager’s body feels it should wake up, making a feeling of drowsiness pervasive throughout the morning. Some may argue that teenagers do not need to stay up as late as they do, but there are two factors they may not consider. First, many students have large quantities of homework each and every day, and in addition to their many extracurriculars most students are not