Final+paper

Walking into Springfield High School on a Monday morning at seven-thirty five in the morning, one is sure to find students walking through the halls like zombies, still getting ready from their rushed morning, and perhaps attempting to take a nap through the morning announcements. This daily struggle occurs because teenagers are biologically driven to sleep longer and later than adults. Specifically, they should be sleeping around nine hours a night, compared to the seven and a half to eight hours that adults need. Unfortunately, high school students have schedules that make it very difficult for them to get proper amounts of sleep. Teenagers do not usually become tired and ready for bed until around eleven or eleven- thirty at night, and have to wake up at seven o’clock in the morning at the latest in order to make it to school on time. This schedule is inflicted on students all across the country, and it is apparent that it has become not only a problem, but an epidemic. The educational environment for American teenagers is the source of sleep deprivation, which has been proven to cause many physical, academic, and emotional problems in high schools teenagers. Deprivation is the disadvantage of losing something, such as sleep. It is also defined as a state of extreme poverty, in this case meaning an excessive sleep loss. Deprivation occurs when there are not enough resources for something one requires, such as lacking enough time to get the proper amount of sleep. A survey conducted on Springfield Township High School students has shown that 94% of students surveyed suffer from sleep deprivation. The vast majority of Springfield student’s surveyed, 82%, requires the use of an alarm clock to wake up for school in the morning. This is a strong indicator that the starting time for school disrupts natural sleep patterns. The body’s circadian rhythm should be what allows one to wake up in the morning. Students should not have to force their bodies to wake up by using an alarm clock; this shows that the sleep cycle has not been completed. If allowed to sleep naturally, most teenagers would fall asleep at around eleven or eleven-thirty at night, and sleep until eight or eight-thirty in the morning. Because most teenagers are not sleeping in this pattern, 48% of kids surveyed have reported that they have trouble concentrating and remembering things and 49% often feel slow with critical thinking, problem solving, and being creative. These are problems that seriously debilitate student’s ability to learn. A change in the high school schedule would be conducive to the education of its inhabitants. Teenagers are not the only ones who recognize the problem; there has been legislation created to combat the issue. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts state legislatures are considering a bill that would prohibit public schools from starting before 8:30 a.m. Some schools argue that adjusting school schedules is too expensive and complicated, but resistance to making this change is met by support from parents and teachers as well as students. Teachers complain that students fall asleep in classes, and parents argue that their children are irritable and constantly fatigued. The schools are concerned that since students will be released later in the day, those who play sports will be home late. Many insist, however, that the level of sleep teenagers are getting is too minimal, and is resulting in consequences far worse than even the academic repercussions of sleep deprivation. If a teenage driver is sleep deprived, it has potential to be fatal. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released statistics saying drowsiness and fatigue cause 100,000 traffic accidents a year, half of which are caused by teenagers ( Narins). Teenagers are already the most likely age group to get into car accidents, and drowsiness is a cause of accidents, leading to a fatal mix of new drivers and teenage sleep deprivation. The affects of teenagers lacking sleep include many serious consequences, not simply being a bit tired and distracted. Many teenagers claim that academic struggles ensue when they go without sleep. "When I haven’t slept a lot the night before, classes are difficult to stay awake in, and it’s really hard to stay focused," says Hayley Hall, a senior at Springfield High School. Listening in class is difficult when students are nodding off during lectures. When asked what a typical sleep deprived student looks like in class, Dr. Deborah Smith of Springfield’s Science department said: "If they are sleep deprived they can't concentrate, they fall asleep in class, they can't listen to what going on during class, they have nothing to give, because they're exhausted.” Disciplinary problems, sleepiness in class, and poor concentration are proven effects of sleep deprivation. W ork submission is often delayed, or work is not turned in at all. This leads to poor student-teacher relations, which can make the academic environment worse. Study skills are lacking when students are exhausted, because of a lack of motivation and inability to focus and being tired makes you more likely to make mistakes. Cornell psychologist James b. Maas, PhD, is a sleep expert who has worked specifically with high school students and sleep deprivation. He is one of the many psychologists who support legislation for later school times. What good does it do to try to educate teenagers so early in the morning? You can be giving the most stimulating, interesting lectures to sleep deprived kids early in the morning or right after lunch, when they're at their sleepiest, and the overwhelming drive to sleep replaces any chance of alertness, cognition, memory and understanding (Maas).
 * Sleep Deprivation in American High Schools**

A teenage brain has a circadian rhythm that switches on later at night as puberty progresses. A circadian rhythm is "a roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of living entities" (Stedman's Medical Dictionary). Sleep is needed to maintain homeostasis, or the body's automatic attempt to maintain balance and stability of certain internal functions, such as body temperature, influenced by the external environment. This need for homeostasis is why it is difficult to stay awake when your body wants you to sleep. Circadian rhythms are highly influential on the body and are controlled by centers in the brain, specifically located in the hypothalamus. Circadian rhythms do not only establish resting and waking patterns, but it is also controls a similar cycle- the rise and fall of the core temperature of your body and other physiological functions. When the circadian rhythm is disrupted, the consequences affect the human body in many dangerous ways. The "pathologically sleepy," or those who have severe cases of sleep deprivation, fall directly into REM sleep in an average of only 3.4 minutes, a pattern similar to those who suffer from a sleep disorder known as narcolepsy. A narcoleptic would suffer from frequent and uncontrollable periods of deep sleep. Falling almost directly into REM sleep is a very bad sign for teenagers, because it proves how sleep deprived these teenagers truly are. REM sleep is when dreams occur, and dreams are absolutely essential for your brain's survival. The body needs sleep because it is the period where your body repairs the damage which is done throughout the day.  Being d eprived of sleep for any period of time longer than 40 hours is unfeasible, due to short, completely unpreventable periods of “micro sleep,” which are guaranteed to happen, even during physical activity. These micro sleeps last only just a few seconds, but they may provide explanations for performance slips in waking behavior. These micro sleeps demonstrate that the body has a desperate need for sleep. It is believed these brief episodes of sleep may even have some restorative function. This may account for memory loss of certain parts of classes where the student has experienced micro sleep. Compiling a sleep debt, a tally of how many hours you lose each night, catches up to students by the end of the school week. For example, if a teenager sleeps seven hours (as opposed to the necessary nine) on Tuesday night, they have added two hours to their sleep debt and so forth. By Saturday morning many teenagers sleep in very late in order to alleviate this debt. This pattern that high schools have forced teenager’s to adhere to is very unhealthy because maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is essential to good sleep habits. This creates a cycle of sleep deprivation that is difficult to break. Since teenager’s circadian rhythms often cause them to not be tired until eleven o'clock and schools mandate attendance by 7:35 or even earlier, it is very hard to get the recommended nine hours of sleep. Since this becomes such a destructive pattern, issues more serious than academics can arise: Losing more than one night's sleep does produce a noticeable increase in irritability, lethargy, disinterest, and even paranoia. While not seriously impaired, psychomotor performance and concentration are adversely affected. While autonomic (involuntary) nervous system activity increases during sleep deprivation to keep heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and body temperature normal, physical fitness cannot be maintained and immunological functions seem to suffer (Science resource center).

Psycho pathologies such as depression and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are also physical results from not getting enough sleep. An increase in the risk of obesity also accompanies sleep deprivation. “The association between inadequate sleep and obesity is undeniable,” observes Lawrence J. Cheskin, M.D., Director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center. Sleep deprivation produces activation of the sympathetic nervous system and causes the release of stress hormones. Cortisol is one of those stress hormones, and elevated levels of cortisol can lead to insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance, which is what leads to obesity. Some useful tips on correcting sleep deprivation are as follows: Wait until you are sleepy before going to bed, avoid using the bedroom for work, reading, or watching television, get up at the same time every morning, no matter how much or how little you have slept, get at least some physical exercise every day, avoid smoking and avoid drinking liquids that contain caffeine, limit fluid intake after dinner. Learn to meditate or practice relaxation techniques, and do not stay in bed if you can't fall asleep. Instead, you should get up and listen to relaxing music or read (Newton).

These tips should be appreciated and followed, and all efforts should be made to reverse sleep deprivation if one finds they are affected. In order to rectify the situation, one must dedicate themselves to better sleep patterns. Many feel that later start and dismissal times would positively impact a school experience. “When I sleep in, even if it is only twenty minutes, it makes a huge difference in how I operate in school that day. If school started later, I would still go to bed around eleven, but I would be much more rested and focus more in class," says senior Kara Vogelbacker. Another senior, Ian Brunell, says "it feels impossible to wake up in the morning; every bit of extra sleep I can get, I'll take." Most high school students experience a point where they feel they are stretched thin by not having enough sleep. If administrations and school boards around the country consider these facts and comprehend the gravity of the situation, it is hopeful that they would contemplate later school arrival. This is a fundamental problem with the state of high school education in America today. Sleep deprivation is a serious issue caused by a schedule that impairs teenager’s ability to get enough sleep, and high school administrations should adjust to this dilemma.