What Happened to Sleep?

More students are sleep deprived now than ever before in history; what needs to be done?

By Paul Mathis
In-Depth Editor

Sarah Lewis, a junior, has a problem with sleep. "I am suffering from a serious lack of sleep," she said. "I fall asleep in class all of the time, I can't do well on class work, I come home and I can't do my homework. It's like a never-ending sickness."

Lewis seems to be in a stressful situation: she is taking 4 IB classes complete with hours of homework each night, works with AHS Theatre after school, and rushes to and from voice lessons throughout the week.

But Lewis is in a state that is not uncommon am many students. In fact, it is clear that in today's society, adolescents are not getting enough sleep. The psychological community contends that students need between 8.5 hours and 9.25 hours of sleep per night, in order to foster numerous new bodily developments, including the solidification of the frontal lobe, the arbiter of the brain. However, in a recent poll done by the National Sleep Foundation, it was found that only 15% of adolescents between ages 11 and 17 get the required 8.5 hours of sleep per night or more, and it was found that over 26% receive only 6.5 hours of sleep or more per night.

The adolescent and teenage lifestyle often inhibits one from receiving enough sleep. Many students cited that school work is one reason for not getting enough sleep at night, due to the fact that many students feel they will get ahead in school if they stay up working or studying. "I stay up all night doing projects, homework, and stuff like that," said senior Daniel Lagdameo. "Just last night I stayed up all night doing an IB Project, and then I had to run the mile today in weight training."

Other students express the same misgivings towards homework and its ability to keep them up. "I don't get enough sleep, partially because of homework," said Lien Vu, a junior. "I think my body is just used to it now."

School itself can be problematic when it comes to getting enough sleep. The circadian rhythm of adolescents causes the average teenager to fall asleep around 11 p.m. If this adolescent were to receive the proper amount of sleep at night, he or she would wake up at 7:30 a.m or 8:25 a.m. Unfortunately, many school systems require students to been in class by 7:20 a.m., causing many students to have to rise at 6 a.m. or earlier.

Often, an adolescent's lack in sleep can lead to future causes of sleep deprivation. Students tend to try and make up for the sleep that they lost during the day by taking naps in the afternoon or early evening. In fact, 38% of students nationwide noted that they take naps during the day to stave off exhaustion. However, napping during the day on throws off an adolescent's sleep pattern to an even greater degree, causing such an adolescent to receive even less sleep at night. "I nap," said Lagdameo. "I probably sleep for an hour or two every now and then when I get home from school, sometimes after I eat or do some homework."

The same problem is attributed to sleeping late on weekends. The average teen sleeps 1.2 to 1.9 hours later on the weekend than during the week. This also throws off the sleep pattern of the adolescent, resulting in a later time of falling asleep and less sleep at night during the regular week.

Many students also engage in certain activities in order to stay up during the school day. Some drink energy drinks or other caffeinated beverages. In fact, it was found in a poll by the National Sleep foundation that 31% of adolescents consume caffeinated beverages in order to stay awake. Caffeine tends to cause a further deviation from a normal sleep pattern in the adolescent, especially for those who consume caffeine in the afternoon or later. Lewis in recent months has tried to cut down on her caffeine consumption: "I haven't drunken coffee in a year or so, because I've heard its bad for you. At the same time though I feel like I have less energy than I used to have when I drank it."

All of this lack of sleep can have many adverse effects on the adolescent mind, the adolescent body, and the adolescent way of life. For those adolescents who are students, sleep deprivation can have a great effect on a student's ability to perform or create. It was stated above that many students engage in late night studying or working in order to keep ahead in classes or do well on exams. However, 34% of students report better grades than those who do not get enough sleep. This is partly due to the fact that increased amounts of sleep allows more time for memory information to be unraveled in the human mind, which allows for greater chances of recall in the future. "When classes are really boring, I get extra tired, and my vision gets blurry; depending on the activity, I feel like I have less energy and ability and I just want to sleep," said Vu.

On top of not being able to perform on tests or create exceptional work, the student who has a lack of sleep has more of a propensity for sleeping during class to make up for the sleep that such a student would miss at night. 28% of adolescents surveyed nationally stated that they had fallen asleep in class more than twice in the last week alone. "In R7 I fall asleep all the time," said Lagdameo. "I guess it's like a combination of not having enough sleep and having weight training R5. Usually I only sleep in R7 when it comes to class, but sometimes I fall asleep in other classes."

Students also suffer from trying to get more sleep in the morning but being inhibited by school start times or otherwise. This often results in students being late to school, and in fact 14% of high school students surveyed noted that they had been late to school at least once in the past week. Lewis and Lagdameo both noted that they are late to school often. "First period is usually the period that suffers in terms of my absence," said Lewis. "It's just too early in the morning and I just can't find a way to get out of bed." Lagdameo agreed. "I am late to school often," he said. "I am more sluggish in the morning, and so I don't make it to school on time."

Beyond academics, the adolescent who suffers from a lack of sleep may encounter many bodily and health-related problems. Besides the direct side-effects of not getting enough sleep, many students say that they do not exercise because they feel too tired or do not have enough energy, due much in part from a lack in sleep. More than 28% of students said that they were often too sleepy for exercise, and thus participated in few to no athletic activities at all.

Perhaps the worst effects caused by lacks in sleep are those relating to mood. On top of the already unstable mood patterns of adolescents, sleep could be inducing changes in mood that are maladaptive and often problematic. For instance, 55% of adolescents polled by the National Sleep Foundation who were found to have a "good" or better mood score stated that they often had "a good night's sleep." On the other hand, among those adolescents polled who had the worst mood score, only 20% stated that they often had "a good night's sleep." "I just feel, like, too tired to do anything or talk to anybody or stuff like that," said Lagdameo. "Lack of sleep definitely affects my mood."

Changes in mood in the adolescent induced by sleep can range from being simply irritable due to exhaustion to completely depressive. Lack in sleep can reduce the amount of control an adolescent has over his or her thought processes or ability to reason, thus potentially causing an adolescent to act out or to succumb to anxiety or depression. It has even been found that students who have a consistent lack in sleep are more likely to use stimulants.

Lacks in sleep can danger not only an adolescent but those around the adolescent. Besides actions induced by depressive states or mood changes, the adolescent cause harm in many ways due to a lack in sleep. Last year it was found that around 100,000 car crashes resulted from driver drowsiness or lack in attention caused by tiredness. Nearly half of these are attributed to adolescents.

Thus, lack in adolescent sleep is dangerous, and is a problem that has to be faced not only be parents and adolescents themselves but by those who shape the adolescent environment, such as school officials or regulators. Adolescents are not receiving enough sleep, and this is causing an inability in adolescents to perform in school, to perform athletically, or even to drive from one place to another. All of society would be benefited: not only the adolescent who feels better and is characterized by a better mood, but the society that can benefit from the fruits of an adolescent's creative, innovative, and active mind.

By Alan Weintraut |  April 16, 2007; 8:28 AM ET
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