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Professor Nicholas Anderson
ENC 1101
December 10th, 2014
Sleep Deprivation Effects on Children
Sleep is essential to all organisms. As human beings develop, there is a need for the body
to sleep a certain amount of hours so that it can thrive from day to day. Sleep deprivation surely
causes problems through every stage of life, with less sleep come adverse effects. Some effects
are more prominent in certain stages of life and some are a result of multiple years of sleep
deprivation. All in all, the less sleep a body gets the more frail that life becomes. Children in
grade school are at greater risk for secondary effects of sleep deprivation because they are still
developing. Lack of sleep is detrimental to any organism, yet children’s sleep cycles should be
closely observed and nourished with healthy amounts of sleep so that children can function at
they’re best capacity. Although sleep deprivation can affect adults, children are at risk for more
unfavorable responses secondary to time taken away from their slumber. When deprived of sleep
children are faced with the possibility of being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD), their performance in school declines, and biochemical pathways may be
affected leading to greater health risks once sleep is taken away from them.
Now a day’s life is lived at a faster pace than years back. Just because more and more
people are constantly in a rush does not mean that their behavior needs to match that sense of
urgency. More and more kids are also living hyperactive lives. Is their hyperactivity due to the
behavior they observe from their parents or is it truly a disorder they were born with? Multiple
factors can play into a child having ADHD. According to Paul Ballas, a Doctor of Osteopathic
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Medicine, working in the Department of Child Psychiatry in Thomas Jefferson Hospital, a child
displaying ADHD symptoms may be uncooperative, may have difficulty completing
assignments, may seem like they are not engaged in conversation and might make careless
mistakes. In his article, “ADHD and Sleep Deprivation in School-aged Children”, Dr. Ballas
introduces the fact that many children that are displaying these symptoms could in fact just be
symptomatic due to sleep deprivation. Ballas states that many physicians are diagnosing children
with a psychological disorder that may in turn be false. Ballas provides comparison between
children that would truly display signs of ADHD versus those that may just be lacking sleep.
Although the symptoms are very much similar, a distinction can be made by adjusting the child’s
sleep schedule and keeping a sleep diary for two weeks. According to Ballas a lot of parents
think eight hours of sleep is the required for every child, when in fact the amount of sleep a child
needs is dependable on their age. When comparing children and adult sleep deprivation, it is
evident there is a fine line between diagnosing a disorder and the observance of sleep
withdrawals. Ballas reinforces the thought that this line is thinner the younger a person is. An
adult has a better understanding of their body and how it works. They are able to speak more
freely about their sleeping schedule than a child would. At such a young age, children could not
care less about sleep. Children do not go to bed counting the hours of sleep they’ll be getting at
night, they just go to bed when they are told, at least the majority. On the other hand, adults go to
bed every night and count the hours they will have to rest. An adult is more aware of the
situation, therefore they can help decipher if it’s a disorder or if it is a case of chronic sleep
deprivation. When children are involved, and sleep is lacking, this can lead to greater detriments
in their body due to the fact that they are still developing.
Furthermore, when a child is withdrawn from an adequate amount of sleep time, multiple
areas of their lives begin to get affected. A huge part of a child’s life is composed of school,
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where at least 7 hours of their day is spent at school. When children are sleep deprived they
become academically limited, their grades are lowered and their ability to think critically is
deeply affected. In Po Bronson’s article “Snooze or Lose”, it is stated that once a student enters
high school, the amount of sleep they get declines significantly. Although this may be true, and
although detrimental effects do exist for such age group, children in grade school cannot tolerate
lack of sleep as well as adolescents can. Adolescents may not have all the areas of the brain fully
developed, but a child that might be 10 years younger than said adolescent, has a greater risk of
having sleep deprivation effect their school work. Sean Coughlan reported in BBC news about
how “Lack of Sleep Blights Pupil’s Education”. This article provided statistics to attest to the
correlation between sleep deprivation and lower grades/scores. Coughlan’s article states a study
found that: “Sleep deprivation is such a serious disruption that lessons have to be pitched at a
lower level to accommodate sleep-starved learners”. This is significant, because it means that
children in the school system are not learning at the level that they should be learning according
to their age and development. A study carried out by Boston College, provided in this article
states that, “the United States has the highest number of sleep-deprived students, with 73% of 9
and 10-year-olds and 80% of 13 and 14-year-olds identified by their teachers as being adversely
affected” by sleep deprivation. The percentages reported are substantial, indicating a huge
portion of today’s children’s do not live up to proper sleep health. This lack of sleep can affect a
student’s performance in school due to how tired they may feel throughout the day and
especially in classes that are not as interactive. If a child is restless and sleep, they will not pay
attention in class therefore hindering their opportunity to learn the material that day. This will
then trigger a cycle. Once a child misses out on a lesson, they will then not be able to complete
the homework, they will have to revisit the lesson on their own, increasing their wakeful time in
order to study more, and in the end the exam results will not be positive because of all the lack of
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sleep the child has endured. The detriment sleep deprivation adds on to a child’s life is
unnecessary; it has the ability to defer a child’s cognitive ability and set it back years. So much
so that according to Bronson’s article, “A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to the loss of
two years of cognitive maturation and development”. An adolescent or an adult has an easier
time adjusting and coping with failure in the classroom, while a child may be emotionally
affected by the undesirable grades. In retrospect, this could be avoided if children slept an
adequate amount of time.
Not only is a child’s life negatively impacted by lack of sleep psychologically, and
literally (in their school work), but the lack of sleep also brings about harm to the body by
impairing biological pathways that carry out important duties for the body to function properly.
When looking at the human body, any little thing seems like it can throw it off. You step on a
rock and fall, a bone can break. You hit the back of your head hard enough, you can go blind.
Many unfortunate circumstances can cause a life-altering situation. Many parents do not think
sleep can bring about such impairment to the body. Humans are prone to focus on the big,
serious illnesses like cancer, and heart disease, all the while they’ve got a natural killer in their
midst: sleep deprivation. According to Dr. Brandon R. Peters, in his article, “Not Quite Enough:
The Consequences of Sleep Deprivation”, there are many impacts when the need for sleep isn’t
met. He uses an example of someone that is drunk, and compares their symptoms to someone
that may be sleep deprived. He shares how sleep deprivation can cause “slurred speech, jumpy
eye movements, reflex changes, tremor, droopy eyelids, and a risk for seizures”, just like
drinking can. His comparison between lack of sleep and someone that is intoxicated brings to
realization the extent to which such deficiency can harm the body. The symptoms are more
readily seen in kids. Dr. Peter also states other systems are affected, such as the immune system.
When lack of sleep is present the body cannot fight infections as strongly as it should. Also, with
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sleep withdrawals comes the debilitation of the body’s capability of removing glucose from the
blood. Without this the body will lack power, and therefore affecting the brain, more specifically
the prefrontal cortex, according to Dr. Peters. The prefrontal cortex is in charge of thought
processing, and critical thinking. When a child’s brain is affected, the effects are greater, which
also leads to their strive with academics. Not only does lack of sleep affect the brain and the
blood, it can also predispose children to obesity. The hormones necessary to activate the
metabolism are affected without sleep and therefore puts one at risk to gain weight. In the article
“Snooze or Lose”, results of foreign studied where Japanese, Canadian, and Australian children
were analyzed, they found that kids that got less than eight hours of sleep had about a 300%
higher rate of obesity than the children that slept 10 hours. These statistics suggest that this is an
epidemic, not only occurring in the United States but all throughout the world.
Sleep deprivation is not an issue that should be taken lightly. At any stage of life it should
be addressed and a healthy routine should be established. All in all, although it can affect anyone
at any age, the children should be taken care of and have a nourished sleep schedule. The
detriments lack of sleep can bring to their tiny bodies are not worth the 1 extra hour of
wakefulness. Priorities need to be straightened out, and children need the necessary amount of
sleep time. The sources examined all showed observations and results of the disadvantages of
sleep deprivation in children. If children are the future, their futures need to be preserved, and
this can be started with a set bedtime. Not only may a sleep disorder or hyperactivity be ruled
out, but also they will excel in their classes, and have an overall healthier body ad lifestyle.
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WORKS CITED
Ballas, Paul. "ADHD and Sleep Deprivation in School-aged Children." Current Psychiatry
Reports 10.1 (2008): 1-2. Springer Link. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
Bronson, Po and Asley Merryman. "Snooze or Lose." NYMag.com. News, 07 Oct. 2007. Web.
02 Dec. 2014. <http://nymag.com/news/features/38951/>.
Coughlan, Sean. "Lack of Sleep Blights Pupils' Education." BBC News. Business, 8 May 2013.
Web. 01 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22209818>.
Peters, Brandon R., M.D. "Not Quite Enough: The Consequences of Sleep Deprivation." The
Huffington Post. Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine, 11 July 2013. Web.
02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stanford-center-for-sleep-sciences-andmedicine/sleep-deprivation_b_3536674.html>.