Sleep Deprivation And Its Effects On Society Essay

Sleep is a beneficial necessity, both from a scientific and psychological standpoint, improving both mental and physical health. It plays an essential role in our growth and development as human beings. During sleep, our brains are growing and preparing for the day ahead so that we may be productive and attentive in every daily task. Without the recommended minimum of eight hours of sleep each night, people get agitated, distracted easily, gain health problems, make bad decisions, and acquire feelings of sadness and depression. Sleep deprivation is harmful and can cause a large amount of irreversible damage to ones brain, increasing the risk of diseases, strokes, and even diabetes. Throughout history, many authors have written about characters

Sleep is a beneficial necessity both from a scientific and psychological standpoint as sleep improves mental and physical health. Sleep plays an essential role in our growth and development as human beings. During sleep, our brains are growing and preparing for the day ahead so that we may be productive and attentive in every daily task (“Sleep”). Sleep is used by some as a way to escape the harsh reality of life, healing genuine sadness and terminating evocative pain. Without the recommended minimum of eight hours of sleep each night, people can get agitated, distracted easily, acquire health problems, make bad decisions, and feel sad and depressed (Borbely).

One of the many arising problems of America’s students is they are becoming sleep deprived. The busy daily schedules of children and teens are not allowing them to get enough sleep. “Less sleep is unhealthy especially with the new research that as teenagers move through teenage years, they need increasing amounts of sleep. Nine hours per night is the necessary amount to avoid behaviors associated with sleep deprivation” (Final Report Summary, 2001). Among other things, sleep deprivation is causing students to sleep during class instead of being awake and aware. When the students are sleeping in class, they are not retaining information being taught to them. Researchers have now proven that

Being a full time student and avid participant in the community, sleep usually falls by the wayside as the struggle to maintain a healthy balance of activities and work continues. Sleep deprivation can actually be very devastating, having a huge affects on work ethic and focus. Sleep deprivation is “the condition of being robbed of sleep,” according to Dictionary.com. “A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, weight loss or weight gain,” giving it a substantial impact on how one functions on a day-to-day basis (Wikipedia).

Thesis: Sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems, make you forget information, and have a negative impact on the outlook of life.

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.

As an individual sleeps, his body is able to repair itself, remove toxins, and consolidate memories. It is no surprise that the Dalai Lama has once stated that, “Sleep is the best meditation”. Even though the importance of sleep is highly proclaimed, sleep deprivation, especially in young adults, is significantly prevalent. Doctors recommend the sufficient amount time adolescents should spend sleeping every night is eight hours. However, due to a committed schedule, many young adults find themselves in a predicament that powers their improper sleep habits. The contradictory perspective on the value of sleep, assert that the time spent sleeping can be used to performing tasks that are more productive. But a multitude of studies continue to indicate

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

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.

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.

Sleep deprivation is a common issue among people around the world, and everyone has or will experience it in their life. Not getting enough sleep makes it difficult for the body to function properly. Insomnia is a well-known disorder, mainly known in the United States; one in ten adults suffers from this disorder (Kloc). There are many reasons why people end up with a sleeping disorder, and the most common reason is stress. When people do not have enough sleep they behave differently, and do not make the same choices as if they were fully rested. There are four stages of sleep. The fourth stage, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the most important stage of sleeping. A common side effect of BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) is sleep

There has been an increased concern with the concept of a “good” or “healthy” night sleep in modern society, which has led to a large increase in the amount of epidemiological research, focusing on how a healthy sleep pattern can influence an individual’s cognitive functioning; during their normal day to day lives. There is no question that sleep is a fundamental behaviour and a key aspect of human life, Not only does it “allow us to recharge our run-down bodies and recover from physical and mental fatigue” Hess, (1965), but also is vital for “Normal cognitive and brain function” Benke (2009) in adults and children. However, what happens when a healthy sleep pattern is disrupted due to individual differences? There have been many researchers who have touched upon this area of research, mentioning that individual differences can make an individual more susceptible to sleep disruption. As more research has looked into this area it has become more apparent on the affect they have on a healthy sleep pattern, which in turn, has an effect on day to day cognitive functioning.

The number of hours of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. Infants need nearly 16 hours a day, while teenagers require about 8-9 hours on average. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep. Women in the first three months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The quantity of rest a person needs also improves if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous. Sleep-deprived people who are tested by using a driving simulator or by performing a hand-eye coordination task perform as badly as or worse than those who are intoxicated. Sleep deprivation also magnifies alcohol's effects on the body, so a fatigued person who drinks will become much more impaired than someone who is well-rested.

In 2009, David Schyner and his colleagues had the opportunity to subject fifteen participants to a total of twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation. They set up their experiment by asking participants to make a decision between two choices and then again between three choices. After a day of sleep loss, researchers found that participants showed a decreased ability to make integrative decisions between two choices, and the three choice tasks were significantly harder to make more so than the two choice task. And MRI of the participants showed an overall decrease in five regions of the brain versus a full night’s rest in terms of task-specific activity. Affected brain areas were the superior parietal lobe, which functions in spatial orientation; the superior frontal gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus, which, respectively, function in self-awareness in coordination with senses and processing higher information; the orbital frontal, the cognitive aspect of processing decision-making; and the inferior and medial polar frontal, which

According to Siegel (2005) sleep is a recurring period in human activity that is defined as a state of immobility with greatly reduced responsiveness, which can be distinguished from coma or anesthesia by its rapid reversibility (Barnes, Jiang & Lepak, 2016). Borbely and Achermann (1999) noted that a major process that underlies sleep regulation is the circadian process, a clocklike mechanism that is basically independent of prior sleep and waking and determines the alternation of periods with high and low sleep propensity. It is undisputed that sleep fulfills important functions, such as allowing physical repair processes or facilitating memory processes (Barnes, Jiang & Lepak, 2016). As noted by Sonnetag & Mojza (2008), sleep quantity entails the amount of time an individual spends in a sleeping state, and sleep quality refers to difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and the number of awakenings experienced throughout the night. Sleep is proposed to be an important part of the recovery process that restores energy levels needed for engagement at work (Ebert, Thiart,Berking, 2015).