Frances Jensen The Teenage Brain Analysis

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

First there are many serious risks of being sleep deprived. Since so many teenagers are dealing with stress, anxiety, and lack of sleep, if they do this for too long it can have a major affect on their health. The third leading cause of death between the ages of fifteen to twenty-four is suicide. Dealing with sleep deprivation is a major risk factor for having suicidal thoughts, whether or not the teen is depressed. Sleep is food for the brain, without it, it can take a major toll on people. Studies have shown that those who go to bed late do worse in school, and experience a harder time controlling their emotions. Lack of sleep can also affect teens in the long run; causing them to have a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. Sleep deprivation is very harmful to teens, their body needs sleep to function properly, without it, it can damage certain things. Dr. Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and sleep specialist, said “[Sleep deprivation] is extremely detrimental at all stages of life, In the teen years, when development continues the sleep deprivation effects of brain and body development are significant,” (Breus). This shows just how important sleep is for someone. Having a goods night rest helps their minds, making everything easier, and helps them develop properly.

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.

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 children age and move from the first decade of life into the second the temptations to stay up later increases. The preference to stay up later is nearly universal among teenagers in all cultures and has even been observed in other mammals suggesting a biological basis. At the same time teenagers are beginning to stay up later and their recommended amount of daily sleep (8-10 hours) remains unchanged. Teenagers are unable to sleep in later as school start time determines when they must wakeup in the morning. This has led to an epidemic of chronically sleep deprived teenagers with only a small number of teenagers actually receiving

"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.

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

Only about fifteen percent of teens obtain the preferred eight hours of sleep they need to function properly (Neuroscience for Kids, 2010). Sixty percent of teens say that they are “tired” and fifteen percent fall asleep in class (School and Sleep Times, 2011). This shows that high schoolers are not getting

Many teenagers are not getting enough sleep and this is often due to early school start times. Adolescent bodies are naturally in what scientists call

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,

13-15 year olds at our school need nine to nine and a half hours of sleep. Once again, homework and after school activities make us so we cannot go to bed at 8:00 with completed school work. The studies have been done, and they say that teens who aren't getting enough sleep are more prone to poor grades. Poor grades aren't the only thing though. Teens with not enough sleep are also prone to engaging in dangerous behaviors such as drinking, alcohol use, drug use, smoking, ect. Not enough sleep is really bad, and not just for academics, it's unhealthy too. Teens could get cranky, irritable, not being able to control emotions or express as well, and getting stressed, frustrated, angry or upset more

Some important points from this article were that most high school students face increases in schoolwork and school activities, so they don’t have much time for sleep. Also there's a change that happens during and after puberty that makes teenagers to want to fall asleep later and sleep later in the morning. Not to mention that decreased sleep associated with later bedtimes and early wake times can lead to health issues. I just think the article was trying to tell parents that teens are still developing, growing and need

As a person gets older, the amount of sleep needed each night gets less. Teenagers are an exception to that rule. The years from 15 to 18 packs on a whole new level of stress. Exams, homework, after school clubs, jobs, college, relationships, it’s all running through our heads at every second of every day. With a jammed packed schedule, hormones running wild, and teachers loading up the work, we could use some slack. If that could come in the form of a better night’s sleep, we’d be eternally grateful.

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?

Adolescents don’t choose to stay up late; they do know the consequences of being tired the next day. “The starting time of school puts limits on the time available for sleep, this is a nonnegotiable limit established largely without concern