The Importance Of Sleep Deprivation

Sufficient sleep is a biological necessity for the normal functioning of humans, it allows the body to rest and to replenish itself so that it is able to serve its function of living. In addition, mental and physical health depend on the amount of sleep we get. Most adults and students value work and college much more than sleep, this is due to the academic, career, and materialistic demands. Researchers have noted a positive correlation between lack of sleep and decreased physical health, mental health, and academic performance. Sleep consists of two cycles: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), which are sleep patterns that alternate throughout the night. Firstly, sleep begins with non-REM sleep lasting about 90 minutes followed by REM sleep lasting 10-30 minutes, then the cycle repeats itself. REM sleep is the most important phase of sleep because the body is internally awake, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm. Thus, an uninterrupted REM phase of sleep is necessary for integrating previously learned material, and giving the individual a feeling of being well rested and refreshed. Many individuals will put sleep off so that more work hours, and school work can be fit into the day in order to get a better outcome such as job promotions or better academic grades, but I believe that sleep deprived people show a low performance in daily tasks due to suffering from mental, and physical health disorders.

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

Rapid Eye Movement(REM) has been correlated with dreams and sleep physiology. It has been tracked by brain waves and muscle movements. Non-Rem(NREM) sleep is the first phase which occurs for 1-7 minutes and the easiest to be interfered with. The brain begins firing betawaves every 15-30 seconds. After a while the person becomes asleep and breathing regularly between 6-8 seconds in the second stage. The heart rate begins to slow down and so does the blood pressure. In the third stage there are more thetawaves along with sleep spindles(sigma waves) and k-waves. Most of the noise are lock out and the heart rate and blood pressure are decreasing. In the fourth phase there are thetawaves in the appearance of delta waves firing at 1-5 seconds. The last and final stage, the person is in their deepest sleep and it is very difficult to wake up. The heart rate and blood pressure are at their lowest and the delta wave are blasting every 1-5 seconds.

Sleeping affects the brain in ways that cannot be achieved by any other method, at least naturally. Lack of sleep is consistent with “higher levels of depressed mood, fatigue, and sleepiness,” which is observable in any person, but this trend is especially more true for adolescents, because of their developing brain and increased workload. (Fuligni, 2006) Students around the age of fourteen and fifteen are transitioning from middle school into high school and are forced to interrupt their previously set daily circadian due to earlier and later school obligations as well as increased socializing, after-school studying and extracurricular activities. The student’s home life and upbringing can play a large part in their mental health and even

Sleep is a basic human need, it affects how we function on a daily basis and is essential for a person’s health and well being. Sleeping allows the body to recharge and affords the brain the opportunity to integrate important facts, memories and emotional impressions recorded from the previous day. There are five stages of sleep that people go through: Stages one, two, three, four, and Rapid Eye Movement (REM). Sleep is important for all human beings but the amount of sleep each person needs is dependent on many different factors, for example age. Infants generally need sixteen hours of sleep a day, teenagers need about nine hours, and for most adults, seven to eight hours a night is ideal. If people do not sleep enough for several nights they

Many disorders and diseases can result from abnormal sleeping patterns that are triggered from sleep deprivation. The most common forms of sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy (NINDS 10). All of these sleep disorders begin from sleep deprivation and can be managed once they are diagnosed correctly. According to Urban, “Nervousness, dizziness, and sleeplessness may occur”, as a result of sleep deprivation (1). This proves that the slightest health changes can occur if sleep deprivation becomes a problem. According to NINDS, “The disorders and the resulting sleep deprivation interfere with work, driving, and social activities” (10). This shows that the effects of being sleep deprived can drastically change one’s everyday

It has been scientifically proven that sleep is a crucial biological task that our body performs to maintain optimal functional capacity(Xu, Q. 2010). According to data collected by National sleep foundation short sleep deprivation is linked with many side effects, such as, increased risk of

“Unexpected Ways Sleep Deprivation Makes Life Tougher” written by Andrea Peterson, the writer for the Wall Street Journal, explained how not having enough sleep can affect your body and your performance. What one does not obtain the correct amount of sleep it can cause short term and long term effects such as long term memory, short term memory, recall and performance in daily life. Sleep deprivation is a problem that is often overlooked in today’s society. This purpose of this article is to inform our society about the side effects of sleep deprivation in hope of influencing one to change their sleeping patterns. If you do not get the appropriate amount of sleep your daily life will become just that much more difficult.

Sleep is essential to life, as it can affect how we look, feel and perform on a daily basis. Sleep deprivation can have a major impact on our overall quality of life. On average, we spend a third of our life asleep. Sleep regenerates our brains and bodies, and without it we cannot function effectively. During sleep the body undergoes several physiological and psychological processes; processing information, learning and consolidating memories. New knowledge about the importance of sleep, the health consequences of chronic sleep deprivation, and sleep disorders has suffered in recent years. Chronic sleep loss and untreated sleep disorders have a profound and diverse impact on health, behavior, and quality of life (Robotham, 2011).

In my article about Sleep Deprivation Boosts Anticipatory Anxiety a correlation exists between sleep deprivation and increased levels of anxiety. The research team at UC Berkeley suggests when someone is sleep deprived and anticipating either a neutral or disturbing image to appear, activity in the emotional brain centers increases, thus indicating an elevated level of anxiety. This correlation, however, does not indicate causation. Causation would imply that sleep deprivation alone is what causes elevated levels of anxiety. This could be false because increased activity in the emotional brain centers could be caused by other factors instead sleep deprivation. For example, external stresses such as a big test coming up could be elevating activity

It is recommended that as adults we should be aiming to achieve 8 hours of sleep per night. It is important to reach the optimal sleep level each night because lack of sleep over time can lead to an increase in health problems (National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2012). Sleep deprivation can lead to not only physical health problems, but behavioral problems as well (Meldrum & Restivo, 2014). Studies have shown that sleep deficiency is correlated to problems with emotion regulation, difficulties making decisions and problem solving skills (NIH). Obtaining the optimal level of sleep can increase learning abilities, creative thinking, and attention (NIH). Greater potential for success is made possible by ensuring the necessary amount of sleep

What do the effects of sleep deprivation have on people? When a person does not get enough sleep, he or she is depriving his or her body of something that it needs. A delightful sleep is one of the most satisfying human experiences with a role to play in supporting a good mood and cognitive acuity as well as in promoting physiologic balance and resilience (Chittora, Jain and Suhalka). People think because they get an insufficient number of hours of sleep, they will not have an emotional impact by it. Sleep is a required need for peoples’ day to day life to be able to perform and stay healthy emotionally and physically. The effects of sleep deprivation are an issue because it affects mood, performance, and health.

One philosophy I held on to this semester is this: get enough sleep, sleep deprivation is not hard work.

Sleep deprivation is a worldwide epidemic. The increasingly rapid pace of society and round-the-clock access to technology are two factors that play a central role in sleep deprivation (Centers for Disease Control, 2015). Short-term effects of temporary sleep disturbance are typically limited, associated with only minor physiological consequences. However, long-term sleep deprivation (i.e., more than 24 hours) is associated with many harmful consequences (Meerlo, Mistlberger, Jacobs, Heller, & McGinty, 2009). Meerlo et al. (2009) found that sleep disruption leads to reduced neurological functioning, which can have a devastating impact on learning, concentration, and memory. It also increases susceptibility to neurological disorders such as

These interferences impact my life dramatically. It's hard for me to sleep, so any feeding or diaper changing before 3 a.m. will be fine, but it's impossible for me get up at 4 or 5 a.m. after I fall asleep. I get very grumpy if anything wakes me up. Sleep deprivation really disturbs my life, and it can make me depressed if I don't get any help. According to the time schedule, the baby needs a caregiver all day. If I stay home, all my activities are interfered. I love to watch movies and have a nice dinner time with my family. Usually I don't like to interrupt these events. However, with a baby, I have to feed them in the middle of the movie, and change the diaper in the middle of the dinner. Now I learn more about the how much sacrifice to