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Molly Reuter
Mrs. Permeswaran
Advanced English
21 December 2004
Sleep:
How does it affect teenage lives?
Since “sleep is as essential as food,” (Disconsiglio 2) why, then, do so many people not
get eight hours of sleep per night? There are many answers to this question because sleep
deprivation is a growing problem in our society. Some people believe their bodies can run on
five hours of sleep, while others say they have no time to sleep and fit in work, chores, church,
school, and a social life. Of all age groups, adolescents report being the most sleep deprived in
America (Teens, Sleep, and School 1). When people, specifically teenagers, do not properly
understand sleep, they often become sleep deprived, which has more consequences than they
realize. Teenagers should be aware of the effects of sleep. Thus, in order to properly understand
sleep, people must first understand the sleep cycle and its causes. Then, they must be aware of
the negative effects of sleep deprivation and some solutions to the problem.
First, people should understand the sleep cycle because it dictates one-third of their lives
(The Secret Life of the Brain: The Teenage Brain 1). In the sleep cycle, there are three stages: the
wake stage, the Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) stage, and the Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
stage; of these three, NREM and REM repeat throughout the course of the night. During this
cycle, people spend most of their day in the wake stage. In this stage, brainwaves, termed beta
waves, are peaked and show that people are awake and active. This stage continues throughout
the day until right before a person falls asleep. Toward the end of this stage, people are still
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awake, but their eyes are closed and relaxed. When this occurs, brain waves change from beta
waves to gently rolling alpha waves. This new state is known as slow rolling eye movement,
since the eyes shift slowly, but impulsively, under the eyelids (Stages of Sleep 1).
After falling asleep, people enter NREM and spend 70 percent of sleep here. NREM is
separated into four phases; they are named phase one, phase two, phase three, and phase four.
However, stages three and four overlap because of the similarities between them. During NREM,
“the muscles relax, body systems take a rest, and the brain waves associated with wakefulness
and alertness disappear and are replaced by increasingly slow, deep waves of inactivity” (Stages
1).
Once people fall asleep, stage one begins. In stage one, all body systems relax. This
relaxation is most noticeable in the respiratory system, as breathing becomes regular and easy.
During this stage, there are also small brainwaves indicating the mind is relaxed. Interestingly
enough, although this stage only takes up only five percent of the total amount of sleep, it is
where people have dreams of falling (Stages 2).
After five to ten minutes, people progress from stage one to stage two. Stage two is
considered “the first stage of true sleep” (Stages 2). The waveforms during this stage show small
peaks of brain activity. Two important characteristics of this stage are that people are unaware of
their environment and that people sleep lightly. Fifty percent of the total sleep time takes place
during stage two, which lasts for thirty minutes (Stages 2).
Next, people transition into stages three and four of the sleep cycle. During these stages,
people become even more relaxed, their breathing and heart rate become regular, and their body
produces the growth hormone. In addition, brainwaves, now called delta waves, become large
and wavy, increasing in size the deeper people fall asleep. Although these stages make up half of
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the overall NREM stages, only seven percent of sleep is spent in stage three and eleven percent
in stage four (Stages 3).
After stage four, approximately ninety minutes into the overall sleep cycle, there is a shift
from NREM sleep to REM sleep. Two important characteristics of REM sleep are rapid eye
movements and short-term paralysis. Rapid eye movements are when the “eyes move in a rapid,
flickering, twitching motion while [the] eyelids are closed” (Stages 3). In regard to paralysis, it
affects every part of the body besides the diaphragm. Paralysis is necessary to stop people from
acting out their dreams. As for brainwaves, steeply peaked “saw tooth” waves appear, showing
full brain activity. Generally, people remain in REM for ninety minutes and stay in REM a little
longer every time it occurs (Stages 3-4). Overall, understanding the wake stage, NREM, and
REM is a necessity for people to understand sleep.
Second, people should understand the cause of sleep so that they can realize the effects
sleep deprivation has on them. Overall, the cause of sleep-wake patterns is people’s circadian
rhythms, better known as their biological clocks. This internal clock is stimulated by light.
Because of this, when it is dark outside, the body wants to sleep, and when it is light outside, the
body wants to stay awake. To help control the circadian rhythm, the body produces a hormone to
induce sleep; this hormone is also stimulated by darkness and called melatonin (Thomas 1).
Besides inducing sleep, melatonin “improves sleep, stimulates the immune system, and protects
the central nervous system” (Melatonin 2).
Taken as a whole, each age group has a different setting on its biological clock. To begin
with, babies enter the world with a biological clock that is “completely out of whack with the
[rest of the] world” (Healy 1). Throughout infanthood, babies sleep 14.5 hours a day, on average.
However, they begin to develop a normal sleeping system by the time they are six weeks old
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(Kantrowitz and Springen 1). As children grow older, their sleep pattern becomes habitual, and
their biological clock becomes in sync with the outside world. From this, young children need
approximately eight hours of sleep a night in order to wake up with enough energy to start the
day. Nonetheless, when children reach adolescence, they no longer continue to have their
energetic start to the day with only eight hours of sleep (Spinks 2).
During adolescence, the biggest overall change in sleep-wake patterns occurs. This
change is that teenagers now need to get a little over nine hours of sleep a night in order to
properly function the next day (Spinks 2). However, not many teens get nine hours of sleep each
night. In fact, 3,000 students were surveyed at a Rhode Island High School, and researchers
found out that these students averaged only 7.3 hours of sleep each night. Furthermore, from this
study, researchers found that “only 15 percent of them were receiving 8.5 hours of sleep each
night, and a whopping 26 percent were sleeping only 6.5 hours or less [each night]” (Mullin 1-2).
Consequently, these numbers are due to a shift in teenagers’ biological clocks and their lifestyles.
The first cause of adolescent sleep habits is from teens’ daily schedules. During a typical
day, teenagers go to bed at eleven o’clock on a school night, and they wake up at seven o’clock
the next morning. For the first few class periods, teens battle sleep and finally perk up around
three o’clock when their extracurricular activities begin. When these activities finish, it is seven
or eight o’clock, and it is now time to do homework and other chores at home. By now,
adolescents are dead tired and have to fight through their homework. However, when nine or ten
o’clock comes around, teenagers are wide-awake, and they are not able to fall asleep until eleven
o’clock at night. They then sleep through the night and wake up at seven to start a new day.
Holidays and weekends are even worse for their schedule, as teens stay up well past eleven and
then sleep half the day away. (Grady 1) This pattern of sleeping is very unhealthy. Even though
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teenagers may be getting enough sleep on holidays and weekends, it does not make up for the
loss of sleep during the week (Teens, Sleep, and School 2).
The other cause of change in teenagers’ sleep habits is from a shift in their biological
clocks. As previously mentioned, teens’ circadian rhythms cause them to stay up later and sleep
in later than the rest of the world. In addition, melatonin is being emitted later during
adolescents’ sleep-wake cycle, so sleep is induced at a later hour (Thomas 1). Moreover,
teenagers actually run on a 26-hour cycle rather than the 24-hour days (Healy 1). Studies have
also shown that their biological clocks create a need for sleep during the mid-afternoon and make
a teenager become alert at nine at night (Spinks 2). Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at
Brown University, states, “Most teens are walking around like zombies. They don’t even know
what it’s like to be fully awake” (Diconsiglio 1).
In contrast, middle-aged people’s circadian rhythms are the most in sync with the outside
world. Because they only need eight hours of sleep a night, their typical day ends at ten and starts
at six. However, when people hit age sixty, their biological clock shifts again, making elderly
people fall asleep early and get up early. This is what makes elderly people’s cycles shorter, and
their night’s sleep to be very similar to that of a nap. Nonetheless, when elderly people do sleep,
they do not have very much delta sleep, and delta sleep is what makes people feel refreshed after
waking up. (Healy 1) With this, their sleep is very light and fragmented, and they commonly
report waking up during sleep (Sleep and Aging 4). Thus, understanding the biological clocks of
all age groups, specifically teenagers, is a necessity for people to understand. Though this
information may seem like a lot to take in, it is a foundation for understanding sleep and sleep
deprivation.
Third, people should understand the effects of sleep in order to take better control of their
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lives. There are important benefits of sleep: not as many cases of sleep disorders, a better
memory, fewer car accidents, and a healthier body. If people, especially teenagers, do not
understand the effects of sleep, then they become sleep deprived and lose many of the benefits of
sleep. To begin with, teenagers need to get enough sleep each night so that they do not develop a
sleeping disorder. For teenagers, two of the most prevalent sleep disorders are insomnia and a
disturbance in the sleep-wake cycle. Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep and has hit all people
at some point in their lives (Borbely 88). It can be divided into two major categories: temporary
and chronic. Temporary insomnia is usually a result of stress or worries and only lasts a night or
two. Chronic insomnia is repeated sleepless nights; it lasts for six or more months. (Bayer 22)
Insomnia can be further broken down into three forms: people who “[have] a difficulty in falling
asleep…, [wake] up frequently during the night…, and [wake] up too early in the morning”
(Borbely 88-89). Thinking too much, pain, people’s surroundings, and the weather are common
causes of temporary insomnia. (Borbely 91-92)
The other common sleep disorder in teens is interruptions in their wake-sleep cycle. This
happens when teenagers do not sleep much during the week and then “binge sleep” on the
weekends. These patterns cannot be put up with for very long, as many people soon feel sluggish
on Mondays; these “…Monday-morning blues are [actually] mini-jet lags caused by keeping
later weekend hours that require a circadian correction.” (Bayer 71) Thus, teenagers should get
plenty of sleep every day of the week. This can help them avoid insomnia and disturbances in
their sleep-wake cycle.
A further reason teenagers should get enough sleep is that it can boost their memory.
When adolescents do not get enough sleep, their attention span and memory are negatively
affected, causing a decrease in grades at school. From this, many students have a hard time
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paying attention, because all they think about is sleep. In addition, many tests have shown that
learning takes place when people are sound asleep because the brain applies what it learned at
school that day during the night (Spinks 3). Thus, “if [students] do somehow manage to focus,
they may forget what they were taught because memory formation takes place partly during
sleep” (Grady 1). Consequently, teenagers should be getting enough sleep a night so they can
perform well at school the next day.
An additional reason teenagers should get enough sleep is so they do not cause car
accidents. Carksadon of Brown University says, “There’s not a huge difference between driving
tired and driving drunk” (Diconsiglio 2). The effects from driving drowsy and being drunk are
nearly the same: sluggish responses, less alertness, less reaction time, and impaired judgment
(Drowsy Driving and Fatigue 1). It is reported by the United States National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) that 100,000 crashes are caused by tired drivers. Every year,
there are about 1,500 deaths and 71,000 injuries from drowsy driving. It is also estimated that
there are 12.5 billion dollars in losses, whether car repairs or hospital fees, from drowsy driving
car accidents every year. (Drowsy 2) Overall, young adults, along with truck drivers and shift
workers, are the three groups most in danger of drowsy driving (Drowsy 3). In fact, “teen drivers
are involved in more sleep-related accidents than any other segment of the population…” (Teens,
Sleep, and School 1). Therefore, it is evident that teenagers’ busy lifestyles put them at great risk
to be in a sleep-related accident.
The most important reason teenagers should get enough sleep at night is simply because
their body needs it. If teens do not sleep well at night, then they may not be getting all benefits of
sleep. For example, sleep can boost the immune system by fighting off colds and viruses during
the night. Consequently, if adolescents do not get enough sleep a night, then they become
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susceptible to more infections and need to stay home from school more. In addition, sleep
deprivation can also make a person more prone to depression and anxiety. Sleep is also necessary
for growth as physical and sexual maturation occur when a teenager is sleeping. Furthermore,
energy levels do not get replaced without sleep. (Thomas 1-2) Sleep deprivation is especially not
beneficial for people in extracurricular activities because “studies show…that learning a new
task, whether it is sports or music, will be greatly helped by getting a good night’s sleep…”
(Spinks 4). In order for teenagers to be in school, stay healthy, grow, and be active, they should
get enough sleep each night. Thus, understanding the effects of getting a good night’s sleep is a
necessity for people to understand sleep.
Finally, there are tips and solutions to help people, especially teenagers, who are sleep
deprived. The first solution is to start a regular bedtime. It may sound silly, but the body will
associate that bedtime with sleep time, helping it become easier to fall asleep. The second tip is
to eat healthy. People should exercise on a regular basis, and they should not drink pop or eat
other foods with caffeine near their bedtime. They should specifically avoid caffeine because it is
a stimulant. It keeps people up when they should be sleeping. The third tip is to have good timemanagement skills. If teenagers have good time management skills, then they will allow enough
time for sleep, school, and their activities. If they do not have good time management skills,
then they will not allow enough time for certain activities and then will be doing those activities
when they should be sleeping. Fourth, since melatonin is triggered by darkness and the biological
clock is activated by light, people should make their bedroom as dark as possible at night and
allow as much light as possible into their room in the morning. The last tip is to get plenty of
sleep on the weekends. When teenagers get a few extra hours of sleep on the weekend, they are
more likely to feel rested for the week to come. Nevertheless, people should not drastically
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oversleep on the weekends, since that can cause them to be more tired and drowsy than they
were before. (Mullin 2-3)
Another solution that is being looked at by many school boards across America is later
start times for high school students. It is being proposed that schools should start later so that the
adolescents’ biological clocks are in sync with the outer world. Although this idea sounds great,
many schools are not even considering it as there are several major drawbacks to this idea. Some
disadvantages are “a longer school day for teachers…, a later start time in sports and after-school
activities…, [and] a decline in [student] work hours”
(Adolescent Sleep Needs and School Performance 4).
On the other hand, there are also many advantages to moving back school starting times.
First, students would be more alert and well-rested. Second, there would be more time for
classroom help in the morning. Third, more students would have a better chance to eat breakfast,
and they have a better chance boost their immune system. Fourth, first period attendance would
more than likely improve. (Adolescent 3-4)
Those are only a few out of many reasons why some schools have changed their starting
times. In addition to the above ideas, 9:00 a.m. has become the recommended start time from the
National Sleep Foundation, since the current average high school starting time of 7:30 (Grady 3)
does not fit with the students’ circadian rhythms (2). They believe this because, as previously
mentioned, teenagers need a little more than nine hours of sleep a night. Also, due to the
melatonin and their internal clock, a teen does not fall asleep before eleven. Dr. William Dement,
a Stanford University sleep researcher agrees, stating, “Sending kids to school at 7 a.m. is the
equivalent of sending an adult to work at 4 in the morning. It’s almost abusive to them”
(Diconsiglio 2).
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The Minneapolis School District and a school district in Rhode Island were the first
schools in the United States to change their starting times. Five years ago, the Minneapolis
district changed their high school start times from 7:15 to 8:40 in the morning. They have
reported a drop in tardiness, a drop in dropouts, and a rise in attendance. Nearly everyone in the
district is happy with the change, and kids are reportedly using the time to sleep more and not to
stay awake later in the night. (Diconsiglio 1) Similar results were found in Rhode Island when
they changed their start times one year after the Minnesota schools. (Wahlstrom 1)
Even Congress has begun addressing the issue. In 1999, California Representative Zoe
Lofgren introduced the “Zzzzz's to A's Act.” This bill pushes for high schools to start between
8:30 and 9:00 a.m., so the start times could comply with teenagers’ circadian rhythms. If schools
abided by the start times, then they could receive a $25,000 federal grant. When Lofgren first
introduced the bill in June of 1998, she did not receive much encouragement from schools,
parents, and teachers. However, she reintroduced the bill in March of 1999 with hopes of having
more support for the issue. No further information could be found about this bill to this date.
(Fernandez 1-2)
In conclusion, people need plenty of sleep to function normally. Since teenagers are the
most sleep-deprived group in the nation, they should be working the hardest to get their
necessary nine hours of sleep. In order to do this, teenagers should understand how the sleep and
wake cycle works, how sleep is caused by the biological clock, and the effects of sleep. When
this is achieved, teenagers can have complete control over their sleep lives. However, if people,
especially teenagers, do not understand sleep, they will then not get enough sleep a night and
become sleep deprived. From this, they could forget things easier, hurt their bodies, develop a
sleep disorder, or get into an accident. Some schools and researchers have come up with answers
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such as later start times for high schools. These solutions will aid in minimizing the effects of
sleep shortage. Knowing this, people should not think twice about getting enough sleep each
night; it could be as harmful to people’s bodies as starvation.