How much sleep should a person get each night? According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the answer to this question for teenagers and young adults is a minimum of 8 hours per night. Many underestimate the effects that a lack of sleep can have on one’s brain and bodily functions. The lack of shut-eye in young adults, especially, has become a serious problem in recent high school student generations. While lack of sleep in students can often be attributed to large workloads or extracurricular activities, electronic devices are also to blame for the lack of sleep in today’s teenage society. Many students procrastinate doing their homework in order to check all their social media sites and catch up on “what’s new”, thus forcing themselves to sleep later in order to finish the work they previously put off. However, most teenagers don’t realize the extreme dangers of sleep deprivation and the serious ramifications that come along with it. The question still remains however, to what extent does lack of sleep affect the functionality of a high school student’s brain and overall bodily functions?
Many studies show that teenagers who don’t get enough sleep have an increased risk of depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, etc. Although there are other factors that play into the functionality of a high school student’s brain and overall bodily functions, abundant evidence suggests that lack of sleep is one of the most impactful factors in obesity, academic performance, and mental health problems. There are many studies which show the detrimental effects of lack of sleep on high school students and it is for this reason that it is evident that the extent of the damage can be very dangerous and potentially life threatening.
A review article published by S. Laheri discusses existing literature relating to how short sleep duration has an effect on children and adolescents. The article’s definition of short sleep duration is 5 hours. In general, short sleep duration can be attributed to early morning school starts, late TV watching and “gadget distraction” caused by social media (Laheri 1). Although it is a known fact that decreased sleep leads to fatigue, drowsiness, and decreased mental performance, this article also discusses another lesser-known effect. Obesity. Over the past few decades, researchers have ¬¬¬¬executed many studies in order to determine the true effects that a lack of sleep has on a person’s body. In more recent years, the impact of sleep on physical health has become a bigger focus of researchers worldwide. With this increasing interest in the effect that sleep loss can have on a person’s physical health, has come increasing evidence that short sleep duration leads to metabolic changes which can contribute to the development of health conditions like obesity. Studies carried out in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Taiwan have all shown evidence of a correlation between lack of sleep and obesity, specifically in children and young adults. The observations from three different continents and nine different populations show that the results are not dependent on environmental or biological factors that are unique to a specific country or race. The physiologic reason for this link between lack of sleep and obesity lies in a hormonal imbalance. This hormonal imbalance often occurs in people of a young age who do not get enough sleep. Another study found that 40% of 12-16 year olds are “tired” when they wake up (Laheri 1). Taking this into perspective, it is possible to see how many children and young adults are truly affected by a lack of sleep and how many young bodies are at risk of serious disease. Astoundingly, just a mere two to three nights of decreased sleep can lead to this hormonal imbalance, which leads to an onset of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Furthermore, this state of fatigue discourages children and adolescents from physical activity, thereby fostering additional weight gain.
While lack of sleep is a significant contributor in physical health problems, it also contributes to a decline in brain activity, thus limiting academic performance. A study performed at the Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory in Providence, Rhode Island, studied the effects of school start times on students’ academic performance. The study analyzed the effects of later school start times on 9th and 10th grade students. The students in 9th grade began school at 8:25am, while the 10th grade students began school at 7:20am. During this study, students were asked to keep sleep diaries and wear an actigraphy watch, which allowed the researches to monitor their rest and activity cycles. Two weeks into the study, students were assessed in a 22-hour lab evaluation. The study showed that although the 10th grade students woke up earlier for school, they did not go to sleep any earlier than the 9th grade students and therefore experienced sleep deprivation. Due to their lack of sleep, the 10th grade students experienced much more daytime sleepiness and inactivity than the 9th graders did. During the study, a survey of over 3,000 students uncovered the fact that students who reported sleeping just 25 minutes less, and slept 40 minutes after other students performed significantly worse in school, receiving marks below and including a C, while the students who slept more received marks above a C. This grade discrepancy between students who slept less is caused by the inability to concentrate and retain information learned in class. Over the course of a day, a human forms and strengthens the connections between the synapses in their brains. While a human sleeps, these connections are reinforced, allowing us to remember what was learned and experienced throughout the day (Coghlan 1). A lack of sleep therefore decreases the strength of these synapse connections and thus a students ability to retain the information that they were taught throughout the day. It is for this reason that sleep is so important in successful academic performance.
In adults, lack of sleep is known to impede on day-to-day functioning in an overwhelming number of ways (Carpenter 1). In children and adolescents, who require even more sleep than adults, the effects of insufficient shuteye are even more dramatic. Cornell University Psychologist James B. Maas states, “Almost all teenagers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep,” (Carpenter 1). This zombie like behavior is not only troublesome to a teenager’s physical health and academic performance, but can also significantly affect their mental health. Sleep is an essential part of mood regulation, emotion processing, and memory. Lack of sleep can cause a disturbance in these processes because it leads to an increase in emotional reactivity and disturbance. This increase in emotional reactivity and disturbance can then lead to decreased mental health, thus leading to serious psychological disorders (Breus 1). It is very common for sleep and mental health disorders to co-exist because each one can lead to the other. For example, anxiety can disrupt sleeping in the form insomnia and nightmares (Breus 1). Likewise, people with insomnia are also 20 times more likely to develop anxiety disorders (Neckelmann 875). Moreover, as sleep deprivation increases due to anxiety, this can cause other psychological disorders such as bipolar disorder. Researchers have recently discovered that bipolar disorder is frequently accompanied by changes in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. REM is the last of four stages of sleep. The final stage of sleep, REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep), occurs about one hour after you first fall asleep. For 10 minutes after REM sleep begins, brain waves on an EEG become rapid. During this time, heart rate rises, breathing becomes faster and more irregular, and approximately every 30 seconds, your eyes experience bursts of activity, hence, “rapid eye movement sleep”. During this stage of sleep, the brain’s motor cortex is active; however, the brainstem blocks the messages from being transmitted so that your body remains still (with the exception of slight twitches in the fingers, toes, or face). Any disruption in this sleep stage can cause significant psychological problems, which can ultimately lead to bipolar disorder. Additionally, lack of sleep has also been linked to patients who suffer from depression. One study showed that approximately 75 percent of patients with depression also suffered from insomnia. While it is common for insomnia to be a symptom of depression, it is just as common for insomnia to be a contributor to the development of the psychological disease (Breus 1). One study of 10,000 adults, carried our by Dr. Dag Neckelmann showed that people who suffer from insomnia are five times more likely to develop depression in the future (Neckelmann 875).