Brauner 1
Joshua Brauner
Dr. Cooper
Comp II
10 March 2011
Statement of Intentions
The intent of synthesizing these essays is to provide information regarding the topic of
sleep deprivation in adolescents and adults for an audience unfamiliar with the topic or source
material.
A Comparison on Sleep Articles
The right amount of sleep is necessary in order for a person to work at their peak level of
performance. Unfortunately, many Americans are not getting nearly the amount of sleep they
need. “Improving Sleep”, written by Dr. Lawrence Epstein, “America’s Sleep-Deprived Teens
Nodding off at School, Behind the Wheel”, a survey done by the National Sleep Foundation,
and, “When Worlds Collide: Adolescent Need for Sleep Versus Societal Demands,” by Mary A.
Carskadon, are all articles that stress the importance of getting enough sleep. While these articles
all maintain the viewpoint that sleep deprivation is a serious and widespread issue, they each
have their own different, yet effective argument. These articles feature many similarities, such as
taking the stance that sleep is an important issue and utilizing numerous citations in order to
support the ideas of the article and one of the differences is in which format they chose to portray
their information to their audiences.
Sleep deprivation is a serious issue in this country. There are many direct links
established between serious problems and not enough sleep. “Improving Sleep” reveals how
Brauner 2
“Insufficient sleep is directly linked to poor health, with new research suggesting it increases the
risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and even premature death” (Epstein, p. 471). Sleep
deprivation is also a significant contributor to automobile accidents, which relates to premature
death. The results of The National Sleep Foundation article directly relates to automobile
accidents and sleep when their poll states “More than one-half (51%) of adolescent drivers have
driven drowsy during the past year” (p. 483). “Improving Sleep” also chimes in with their
statement on how “20 percent of all serious car accidents and 57% of fatal accidents are
associated with driver sleepiness” (Epstein, p.471). Both of these articles takes the stance that
sleep deprivation is a serious contributor to automobile accidents. While, Carskadon never
mentions how insufficient sleep affects accidents and premature death, she does stress the
importance of sleep and the health conditions related to sleep deprivation such as “memory
lapses, attentional deficits, depressed mood, and slowed reaction time.”(Carskadon p. 494).
There are three major factors that contribute to the reduction of sleep according to our
three articles: biological, behavioral, and societal. Each author approaches the blame and factors
towards their audience from a different angle. Combined they make an exceptionally moving
disagreement towards making solutions to this epidemic of sleep deprivation. Epstein seems to
blame the lack of education of people with regards to sleep deprivation and its dire
consequences. He also blames school start times not being in sync with adolescent’s biological
processes. While The National Sleep Foundation blames society’s pressures upon our young
adults for their sleep deprivation and the society’s health related problems. They even titled part
of their paragraphs “Everyday Pressures + Nature = Less Sleep” (“National Sleep”, p. 484)
eventually backing up that claim in the next paragraph by saying “technology may also be
encroaching on a good night’s sleep… nearly all adolescents (97%) have at least one electronic
Brauner 3
item-such as a television, computer, phone or music device- in their bedroom.” (“National
Sleep,” p. 485). Carskadon directly approaches the topic of behavioral factors throughout the
article saying lack of parental involvement in sleep schedules, greater demands on academics,
increased social opportunities, and employment all contribute in the amount of sleep (491).
Carskadon follows those factors with school schedules, technology affecting sleeping times, and
lack of education about sleep. Mary Carskadon drives the point home with her final summary
stating “The reduction of sleep experienced by adolescents is largely driven by a collision
between the intrinsic processes and the expectations and demands of the adult world.”
(Carskadon, p. 494).
Each of the articles uses various writing techniques to convey their message. “Improving
Sleep” is written in a way that is geared toward highly-educated people and contains the
widespread use of data and also features graphs. However, the writer assumes that that with this
audience they can use the data to improve their sleep instead of relying on the writer to write
actual techniques and methods to improving sleep. For an audience educated to a secondary level
that is unfamiliar with the technical jargon of sleep or how to improve their sleep habits they
probably should look to another article to fulfill their needs. Meanwhile, the data used by Epstein
is credible and semi-approachable to an audience with mixed educational levels. “Nodding off”
features the use of relevant data and Carskadon takes a different approach at reach out to her
audience. She uses non-technical jargon that could be read by anyone and easily understood.
Carskadon’s organization and thought-process was very straight forward with minimal opinion.
Although, she states the problems and factors straight-forward, there are no solutions present.
This is a common theme found throughout all three articles; the articles give an unlimited supply
of ways that sleep deprivation causes problems, such as causing students to fall asleep doing
Brauner 4
homework, falling asleep during school, and receiving low grades due to their tiredness
(“National Sleep, p.483), but none of the articles give substantial ways to deal with sleep
deprivation. The survey done by the National Sleep Foundation, however, comes closest by
addressing how changing school times could help with eliminating tiredness (Carskadon, p. 496).
It would have been interesting to see how the two other authors would have addressed how to
help solve the issue of sleep deprivation.
Regardless of educational level required to decipher the material, a reader would be better
suited to choose “Nodding Off” , by Carskadon, over “Improving Sleep” and “America’s SleepDeprived Teens Nodding off at School” due to the fact that Carskadon is an effective writer and
does not make work too focused on statistics. A straightforward approach to problems with sleep
deprivation is easier to digest and evaluate for solutions to be reached by our readers as opposed
to interpreting the data provided by Epstein and the National Sleep Foundation. While
significant solutions weren’t offered for our readers, the reader can choose a few options that
might fit their current situations, such as allowing catch up time for missed sleep (Epstein, p.482)
and find ways to improve a current sleep deprivation apprehension, such as using caffeine
(“National Sleep”, p.485), even though caffeine comes with its own issues. The three articles
explain how sleep deprivation is an issue to be taken seriously and, while Carskadon comes off
as the most easy-to-read author; all the articles convey information in an effective fashion.
Brauner 5
Works Cited
Carskadon, Mary A. When Worlds Collide: Adolescent Need for Sleep Versus Societal Demands.
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum.
Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Longman,
2008. 489-496. Print.
Epstein, Lawrence. Improving Sleep. Writing and Reading Across the Cirriculum. Eds. Laurence
Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 471-482.
Print.
National Sleep Foundation. America’s Sleep-Deprived Teens Nodding off at School. Writing and
Reading Across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. 10th ed.
New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 483-488. Print.