Sleep is undeniably a necessity for humans and other animals alike. At the beginning of each day, our bodies awake like clockwork in conjunction with the rising sun. Then, at day’s end, they begin to wind down into sleep until the morning. While there certainly may be plenty of mysteries revolving sleep that have yet to been unraveled, from all the way up until now and for centuries to come, it is evident that sleep should hold priority in the schedules of all people. Yet, despite all of this being true, sleep is consistently being taken for granted. And, it is not an overgeneralization to say that many people have, at least once, trudged through a late night as many people have. Even to the point of the night no longer being considered “a …show more content…
Based on the latest update on the National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendation, seven to nine hours of sleep for young adults and adults represent the standard amount of sleep for healthy individuals.(Hirshkowitz et al., 2015) To be fair however, it comes as no surprise to most people, as it has, for many years, have been sleeping around those hours before. Be that as it may, it helps to bring into light why in recent years, more and more people are getting less sleep than they used to. As observed previously, it should not, and is not challenging to find evidence of people reportedly lacking sufficient sleep. In reference to a poll made by the National Sleep Foundation, approximately 39% of people living in Great Britain, 53% of Americans, and 66% of Japanese all report sleeping fewer than seven hours on an average work night. This is reason for concern evidently as any sleep times far below of the seven to nine hour time range most typically indicate signs or symptoms of more severe physical health problems. In particular, recent studies have been providing evidence that correlates the lack of adequate sleep with increased risk of health problems such as: type 2 diabetes, child- and adulthood obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and a higher risk of mortality to top it …show more content…
Day by day, if one were to consistently voluntarily restrict their sleeping hours, he or she would gradually build up what is referred to as “sleep debt”. Sleep debt defines the cumulative effect of reduced sleep hours. (Dinges et al., 1997) The more and more the sleep debt grows from not getting a single good night’s rest, the more moody, irritable, and incoherent a person can get. While there are no limits to the extent of how moody, irritable, and incoherent someone can become, there gets to a certain point where a person’s awareness of how tired or sleepy he or she is goes down. In addition to that, increased sleep debt has also resulted in a decrease in the responsiveness of cognitive brain functions. This phenomena is what is being described and what occurred in the introductory anecdote above. It was not because of the body genuinely feeling less tired and drowsy more so was it that the awareness of the hypothetical person to recognize how tired he/she was has gone down. In reality, it will take more than a few hours to fully recover from sleep deprivation. Based on a study focusing on the effects of cumulative sleep debt, a sample size of 16 adults were chosen and were forced to sleep approximately 5 hours each night, well under the recommended average. (Dinges et al., 1997) The results of this study show that there is
Morgan Manella in the article “Study: A Third of U.S. Adults Don’t Get Enough Sleep” argues that sleep deprivation can have a negative effect in someone’s health. Manella supports her argument by presenting statistics that shows how adults that don’t enough sleep have chronic conditions. The author’s purpose is to raise awareness so that people will sleep more often and have a better health condition.
Title + Author: Why We Sleep by: Matthew Walker, PhD. Summary: The book “Why We Sleep” takes a neuroscientific view on everything related to sleep, from why we struggle to fall asleep, to the benefits of sleep, dreaming and its purpose, and the stigma associated with sleep and work. The book discusses sleep in relation to the body, like the brain (memory, emotions, and reaction times), the immune system, appetite/metabolism, and overall health. Through various studies all around the world, Matthew Walker discusses the importance of sleep in all aspects of life such as school, work, and well-being, and why the lack of sleep can be dangerous and even deadly for yourself and others. He emphasizes the need for change around the stigma that sleep equals being lazy, especially for teenagers, but also for employers
For Article Critique one I chose the article “The Cumulative Cost of Additional Wakefulness: Dose-Response Effects on Neurobehavioral Functions and Sleep Physiology From Chronic Sleep Restriction and Total Sleep Deprivation (P.A., H., Greg, M., Janet M., M., & David F., D. (2003)”. This article was written and submitted for publication in 2003. I found this article very interesting due to the fact that I myself, work off a very unusual work schedule and feel that I am a victim of sleep deprivation personally. For example, I find that I maintain from 4-7.5 hours of sleep a night. This has become very taxing on me not only mentally but psychically. This is why I chose this article, it is personally relatable.
This essay focuses on evaluating three functions of sleep. These functions include mental health (Jackowska et al, 2011), cardiovascular disease (Kronholm et al, 2011) and memory (Hu et al, 2006). The key aspects are explained in detail with regards to studies. The findings from the studies will help justify the function and it’s involvement with sleep. Sleep is important for an individual’s well being, survival, brain development, emotional regulation, cognitive function, memory, and in order to protect mental and cardiovascular health. An individual should sleep for 6-8 hours. A recent suggestion by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommended that an individual should sleep for minimum 7 hours. The quality of sleep is significant to maintain healthy brain functions. Evidence, indicating that good sleep quality is essential for mood and health then duration (Chandola et al, 2010). The researches implied will enable the understanding of the functions of sleep and evaluate the evidence of each of the functions, including advantages and limitations. Furthermore ethical issues are discussed, and an overall summary of the essay is briefed.
It is basic knowledge that humans need sleep, but that’s where it ends just general knowledge. The article “Sleep On It” discusses how not getting enough sleeps affects you and also remedies to help. I personally am one of those people who sleeps less and says, “I’ll just be tired tomorrow, it’s okay.” After reading this article I now realize how I am putting my body in danger of future risk and it’s not okay. The article discusses that people who get no more than six hours of sleep are at a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and gaining more weight. Although the studies mentioned do not show causations, I feel like the correlations are strong enough to understand the negative effects. I found it very interesting no matter which study
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
Contrary to the notion that sleep corresponds with laziness, the consequences of sleep deficiency are undeniable. Research indicates that, “sleep is a period of heavy physiological
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (2012) stated that the recommended amount of sleep for adults is 7-8 hours a day. However , personally my weekday’s sleeping hours is approximately 5.5 hours everyday. Sleep Deprivation may trigger mood disturbance like depression and anxiety , decrease in academic performance due to reducing memory and concentration and increase calorie consumption (Trockel, Barnes, & Egget, 2000).Moreover , the release of cortisol can depress the immune system which make oneself more vulnerable to illness like cold or fever and the increase of upper respiratory infections like headaches can also be seen in university student with sleep deprivation(Irwin, 2002). Importantly, more health consequences of sleep deprivation such as greater use of marijuana , smoking and alcohol abuse are germane to university students (Kloss et al., 2016).
Unlike the studies mentioned in the introduction, our study specifically looked at the attitudes of the participants to see if that related to the amount of sleep they got. In general, this study is adding to the large amount of psychological research done on
Nearly 8 out of 10 Americans openly admit that they will feel better if they had just one extra hour of sleep each night. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called a national sleep epidemic, U.S. adults consistently chose against getting more sleep- even when the opportunity is given to them,” states The Better Sleep Council. If Americans are so sleep deprived and are aware of it, why are they not getting enough sleep at night? The causes that may be contributing to this national sleep deprivation range from the access to technology, to stress, and to even wanting to work later than office hours.
Sleep is a beautiful thing, but people do not get enough of it. It is a time for the body to rejuvenate and process the events of the day. Sleeping is something that we seek out. Getting the recommended amount of sleep allows our body to function properly the next day. Without it, there could be detrimental consequences. The National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that without sleep, neurons could be “polluted with byproducts”. In severe cases, people who get very little sleep often experience mood swings, hallucinations and cells do not continue to reproduce.
The TED Talk video that I watched was Why do we sleep by Russel Foster. This TED talk was about why we need sleep and how getting less than the suggested amount affects the brain. There are three main reasons why we need sleep; restoration, energy conservation, and brain function. Only certain genes are turned on when you sleep so you need to sleep in order for those genes to turn on and allow you other genes to be restored, while sleeping you save about 110 calories, sleep helps enhance creativity, and your brain is less likely to retain information if you’re sleep deprived and trying to cram information. On average a teen needs 9 hours of sleep, in the 1950s the average teen was getting 8 hours of sleep, today on average teens are getting 5 hours of sleep, which is half the amount that we need. If you’re not receiving the amount of sleep that you need your body will uncountable got into micro-sleeping which will happen to at least 31% of drivers in their lifetime.
According to the Sleepless in America (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2014), the documentary which co-produced by the National Geographic Channel, almost forty percent of Americans get less than five hours of sleep per night. Sleep deprivation often results in depression-like symptoms. Thus we heard suggestions that we should have at least eight hours of sleep a night. In fact, the duration of sleep affected by multiple factors, such as human has different sleep needs at the different age, and according to the Openstax (2014), by the time we are 65 years old, we average fewer than seven hours of sleep per day. For instance, I going to prove that people have less than seven hours of sleep are less healthy, and I will use some current scientific data to support the claim that six to seven to eight hours are sufficient for the most population.
Sleep deprivation is, irrefutably, a massive health concern among Americans. Innumerable studies have been performed in hopes of finding out the perfect amount of sleep for a healthy lifestyle. Even though an average of 8-9 hours of sleep is practically unanimously recommended by health professionals, there is a huge discrepancy between that and the actual amount of sleep that teenagers in America are getting on average. The article “Go To Bed!” by Kerry Grens describes the ramifications of chronic sleep deprivation and the toll it takes on the body and mind in a relatively reader-friendly and aesthetically pleasing manner.
Getting the right amount of sleep is very important; because of sleep loss, many human and environmental health disasters have occurred. Looking back at the past one hundred years, the average amount of sleep that americans obtain, has decreased by twenty percent. There are certain amounts of sleep every age group needs to get through each night. Children six to thirteen years old need 9-11 hours; ages fourteen to seventeen need 8-10 hours; and eighteen to sixty-four year olds need to obtain 7-9 hours of sleep every night. However, commitments to our school or work schedules may restrain us from getting all the sleep we need.