Hassen
Nadeen Hassen
Sophomore Academic English
Mr. Hari - Period 4
23 September 2017
The Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Students
“Sleep deprivation is physically miserable and creatively cathartic, as internal landscapes rise up from their dormant ashes,” the young writer Jaeda DeWalt once said. A large majority of people in the world do not receive the amount of sleep they should, because of the amount of worries they have in life. Sleep deprivation is a serious matter, especially for high school students, because the amount of stress they go through. Stress in school causes a great loss of sleep and an intense schedule to keep up with. School administrations should create a bell schedule that starts school an hour later than already intended, because students’ sleeping hours will increase which leads to an increase in test scores, a healthy lifestyle, and the ability to socialize more often.
If students receive more sleep each evening, the frontal lobe would not be in danger of not developing correctly. By this function of the human brain, the frontal lobe controls learning ability and also memory. The American Psychological Association performed a study that proves, “The frontal lobe is still developing in many adolescents. Disturbing REM (rapid eye movement) sleep can slow the development of this vital portion of the brain” (6). The repetitive process of students waking up every morning with not enough sleep is not a healthy routine. A student’s brain is still developing at a young age and sleep deprivation causes the development to slow down. Not only will parents have to worry about their child slacking because of the amount of sleep they do not receive, but they also have to worry about their health. The issue occurring could cause a frightening future since the brain could stop developing correctly. By the brain not developing correctly, this could cause possible brain issues. Generally speaking, a student needs enough hours of sleep every night to be able to have a productive day. The National Sleep Foundation proclaimed , “A congressional resolution to encourage schools and school districts to reconsider early morning start times to sync with teen’s biological makeup” (5). Early start times altar with a student’s sleeping patterns. A healthy sleeping schedule easily becomes destroyed once school starts up. The one reason this occurs is because students spend many hours on not only homework, but also chores, jobs, sports, and family time. Most of the time, their number one priority is to finish their school work, but first they want to worry about other matters as well. Referring back to the text, early morning start times need to adapt for a teenager, which is not simple, when worrying about plenty of other situations happening in their personal life. With the aid of a student’s grades dropping by an unhealthy sleeping schedule, this alters with their ability to focus at an early time in the morning running on low hours of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation once again revealed, “60% of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, according to their parents, and 15% said they fell asleep at school during the year” (5). A known fact is that a person could not perform well by being sleep deprived; this causes a low focus ability. If a student is not sleeping at night, they are sleeping in school. By sleeping in school, the students are not being taught and this defeats the whole purpose of attending school and receiving an education. A student will either be completely asleep on their desk or one eye half closed and the other opened. The ability to focus at such an early time and to collect plenty of information being taught is almost impossible. At several moments of the day, students tend to zone out in class and block everybody out, because how exhausted they are. A mental break is much needed. As a result of not receiving enough sleep each evening of the school year, ultimately students are not only depleting their health, but also greatly harming their education.
Numerous amounts of individuals believe that the bell schedule should remain the same and start no later than already intended. By deliberating that idea, the public perceives this because they personally think the student’s are the one’s to blame for the amount of sleep they lose each evening. Jon Attridge stated in an essay, “Some may argue that teenagers should simply adapt-go to bed earlier or otherwise adjust to the reality of an early school day” (7). Rather than a student falling asleep at one o’clock in the morning from loads of homework and needing to be at school at seven, they need to sleep at an earlier time. The only way a student could have a successful day is by taking the steps to improve the sleeping patterns that they endorse. According to the school, they think the bell schedule does not need to adapt to the student’s sleep needs; the student should adapt to the school hours. An early time is difficult to adjust to, so it may take some time for a student to get used to it. A way this could be fixed would be by finishing some homework during free time in school, such as study hall, so a student could go home with less work. On the contrary of the public thinking students should adjust, they need to notice the amount of time well spent on school alters with a person’s sleeping and morning routine. National Sleep Foundation expressed, “Research in 1990s found that later sleep and wake patterns among adolescents are biologically determined; the natural tendency for teenagers is to stay up late at night and wake up later in the morning” (5). Students have a difficulty adjusting to the sleeping routine during the nine month period of time that school occurs. The sleeping routine transpires because everyday students are assigned with several sheets of homework. Day by day, the amount of hours spent on homework differ; the hours usually increase throughout the year. The school board needs to notice the amount of time and effort their student’s put into their school work. Students actually have a valid excuse for being extremely tired and exhausted. When students constantly feel drained, it causes them to either sleep in by going to bed late or running on low to nearly no hours of sleep. Schools need to put together a much more suitable schedule for their students to prevent negative outcomes. The adults and administration do not believe that students who receive less sleep have health problems that alters with their everyday lives. Medical Journal today disclosed, “He theorizes that, if 14-18 year olds are susceptible to such effects when prevented from getting enough sleep, younger children might be affected severely. Students in grade school need 9 and 10 hours of sleep for optimal learning” (4). These effects lead to the arising of frightening health conditions, because the lack of sleep a student does not receive drains them mentally and emotionally. A student being drained like this could lead into concerning issues by the prevention of sleep. It alters much with learning hours and causes stress on a student when feeling extremely exhausted and worrying about the loads of work they have received. The school administration does not understand that their student’s health matters greatly in the hands of not sleeping enough each evening and need to consider the pain they go through to be successful.
In correlation with student’s applying more suitable times to influence their school work, decisions they build throughout the day depend profoundly on their resting hours. The amount of sleep students are not receiving each evening alters with the decisions they make during the day. Jon Attridge asserted in an essay, "An additional hour of sleep can positively student’s mood and attitude; With students’ moods boosted, teachers and students would get along in stress-free situations” (7). As said in the evidence, one more hour of sleep can do so much for a person. Not only make a difference in one’s attitude, but also a decision made in an important situation. In school, a positive attitude is indeed needed. Stressful situations occur day by day, such as too much homework being assigned that worries a student and problems going on in and outside of school. Walking into school positive creates a perfect mindset that leads to right decision making. Too boot onto the idea of well made decisions, moods greatly affect a student’s school day. Medical Journal Today announced, “If teens constantly do not get enough sleep, their moods can be affected. They will have difficulty performing and reacting as usual” (4). If a student walks in extremely drained from receiving not enough sleep, this leads to them being in an upsetting or grumpy mood. Yet if a student receives an additional hour, they will walk in not necessarily happy, but more untroubled and prepared to have a productive day. Believe it or not, sleep has a great affect on one’s mood, especially in high school. Just one more hour could prevent a horrible, stressful day with a negative mindset from being sleep deprived. In spite of a student’s mood and the decisions they make, extracurriculars get in the way of their school work. Medical Journal Today found, “Extracurricular activities, after-school jobs, and homework may result in teenagers getting no more than 7.5 hours of sleep a night” (4). Numerous amount of students in high school do extracurriculars to show that they are involved. Extracurriculars are tiring and stressful when not receiving not enough sleep. If a student is already tired in class, they will be even more worn out at clubs and sport practices after school. When starting school later, students have more time at night to complete their homework and not stress as much over their classes the next day.
All in all, starting school later could be a great effect on a student’s mood, decisions they make throughout the day, and also prevent stressless hours to make time for both extracurriculars and homework. School administrations should put in mind to establish a bell schedule that starts school an hour later than already intended, because students sleeping hours will increase which leads to high test scores, a healthy lifestyle, and the ability to socialize more often. By creating a bell schedule that adapts to a student’s needs, the school will see an unbelievable increase in students participating more in extracurriculars and also the mindset they carry to school daily. Due to the fact of students constantly being tired, a suitable bell schedule will show much more progress in students and will impact their futures in a significant way.
