McGee 1

Nikole McGee

Mrs. Stanford

AP Reading and Composition A108

26 November 2018

Sleep Deprivation in Teens

High school demands a great deal out of students by asking them to be involved in sports

and clubs while requiring them to maintain grades that reflect positively on their academic

abilities. Encouraging this type of school involvement is meant to prepare students for adulthood

and ultimately set them up to have a successful future. Colleges look highly upon students who

are versatile and valuable to the local and school communities, which is one of the many reasons

that high schools are so often asked to push for student involvement. The major downfall of this

is that schools may be asking for too much. Teens often catch themselves cramming so many

activities into one day that they are forced to sacrifice their sleep time in favor of completing

their homework. Finding the balance between schoolwork, extracurriculars, and health is a

constant struggle for students, but it is evident that good health in turn yields good work. Sleep

deprivation that occurs because of heavy involvement in school is detrimental to one’s health

and, as a result, one’s future. Teens that don’t get the proper amount of sleep needed on a daily

basis are more likely to struggle in school because of the negative health effects that present

themselves when the body is deprived of sleep.

The purpose of sleep is thus far undetermined, but it does happen to be a necessary

function of the human body. There are theories that sleep is a sort of regeneration period for the

human body, a chance to shut down, so it can relax, but evidence suggests otherwise. The

National Sleep Foundation supports that sleep is “an active period in which a lot of important
 McGee 2

processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs.”(National Sleep Foundation). Researchers are

still unsure of why or how this happens, but the fact that sleep is critical in order to be healthy is

undeniable. The human brain needs sleep in order to perform functions that it cannot do as

quickly or correctly while awake. This includes the processing and storing of memories, as well

as the growing of muscles, healing of tissues, and the balancing of hormones in the body

(National Sleep Foundation). Getting the proper amount of sleep is necessary in order for

students to retain information they learn at school or from studying and for staying physically

healthy. The goal of high school is to prepare students for college and for adulthood in general,

but they fail to do so in certain cases. When a student is overworked and sleep deprived, this

reflects negatively on the school as well as that student’s grades. Such students will struggle to

retain new information and are likely to become irritable when it comes to school work, which

overall depletes their work ethic and work quality. Sleep deprivation causes drowsiness,

“microsleeps”, and a slow in reaction time, and these are just a few of the consequences that can

negatively affect students at school. The US Department of Health and Human Services conclude

that, “...not getting enough sleep, or getting poor-quality sleep, increases the risk of high blood

pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.” (Shriver). These health issues are all difficult to

mitigate and are typically long lasting, affecting the student long after they leave high school.

The risks to a student’s health as a result of lack of sleep make it unfair to ask that students

complete tasks that are altogether too time consuming.

Not only is sleep beneficial for a person’s body, it is also beneficial to a person’s mental

health. Studies show that students who sleep less than the recommended nine hours “have

worsened mood and decreased ability to regulate negative emotions.” These mood alterations are

due to the direct effect of sleep deprivation on the human brain, especially in young people. This
 McGee 3

notion is supported by the experiment titled “Sleep Restriction Worsens Mood and Emotion

Regulation in Adolescents” which concludes that:

In the adolescent brain, the prefrontal-subcortical circuits that govern emotion are rapidly

developing (Giedd, 2004; McRae, et al., 2012), and sleep researchers have speculated

that chronic sleep restriction can alter that development (Beebe, 2011). On a more

observable level, if mild to moderate amounts of inadequate sleep causes negative mood

or poor emotion regulation, the resulting effects on adolescents’ behavior (e.g., risk-

taking) could have lifelong consequences (Dahl, 2004).

(Baum). According to this study it is clear teens with bad sleeping habits start each new school

day more unprepared than the last. The dangers of avoiding sleep are often not taken seriously

because it is such a common practice. Sleep deprivation can influence a teen’s work ethic in

negative ways as they become more irritable. Ultimately, the quality of work that the student

provides will decrease as will their willingness to complete the work at all. By avoiding sleep,

teens are in turn abusing their brain. It is evident that teens are unaware of the dangerous impacts

they may encounter by staying up too late. It is important to note that the most physical damage

that comes from sleep deprivation is endured directly by the brain itself. Just as a plant begins to

wilt when it is not watered, the brain begins to shut down when it does not take the time to sleep.

Certain areas of the brain that are not necessary to survival begin to shut down if they are not

utilized as they should be during the stage of sleep called rapid eye movement (REM) or deep

sleep (The Sleep Matters Club 2017). Evidence proves that lack of sleep directly affects areas in

the hippocampus, the region of the brain that deals with emotions and long term memory, where

neurons begin to fire incorrectly or not at all (Poe).This is especially dangerous to an

adolescent’s brain, because certain parts of the brain are not fully developed until after the age of
 McGee 4

twenty one. Due to this, the damage caused by lack of sleep is more likely to be permanent or

long lasting.

Knowing the benefits of sleep is an integral part of understanding the dangers of sleep

deprivation. During the nine hours that a teenager should be asleep, the brain is working hard to

process memories that it has collected during the day (National Sleep Foundation). This could

include new lessons that are necessary to the passage of difficult classes with above average

grades. Furthermore, getting a good amount of sleep at night would help with the positive

reputation of a student that colleges and employers are more likely to recruit as a result of the

increase in academic success. Sleep is also a necessary rejuvenation period for the brain because,

if hormones and chemicals in the body are not balanced, a person could be at risk for anxiety

disorders and other mental health issues. Maintaining homeostasis in the human body is very

important and the proper amount of sleep can help ensure that as well as repairing injuries and

open wounds (National Sleep Foundation). This is likely the main reason that students who do

not sleep properly tend to be irritable, and this is extremely dangerous because the damage

caused by the imbalance in the body can be permanent. Ultimately, sleeping properly helps

ensure good health, good work ethic, and a better chance at success for teens.

It may be argued that the demanding school work is not to blame for causing sleep

deprivation in teens, but the blame instead lies with teens who do not manage time well. It is

easy to assume that, when managing time correctly and efficiently, a student should be able to

keep up with their work as well as get to sleep on time. The simplest solution to this problem

would be to ask the student to avoid taking on so many activities. While this argument is logical,

it is not, however, correct for all circumstances. In order to achieve certain goals, a student is

asked to meet certain requirements. For example, if a teen from a middle class area attends a
 McGee 5

public high school and wishes to attend an Ivy League University, that student must show

exemplary scores on state testing, prove that they have taken and excelled in challenging courses,

and also rise to be a strong leader within their community. Achieving this is extremely difficult

based on the workload that is often tied to these commitments. In cases such as these, there is

almost no way to complete such tasks without avoiding sleep. A simple solution that many

would revert to is to cut one’s involvement in certain activities but, while that may seem the

easiest route to take, it is not the most effective. By cutting out certain classes or activities

students are likely to lose the support needed in order to be successful in the way that they wish

to be. The solution instead must not be the time management of the teen, but the work

distribution of the courses and extra curriculars. If high schools regulated these workloads then it

is likely that the school’s success rate would increase. Therefore it is only logical that, to ensure

the success and health of a student, schools should be more aware of the needs and burdens of

their students. Placing the responsibility of the requirements in education solely on the student is

not only detrimental but also yields poor results for that student and for the school.

Obviously sleep is essential to the high-level functioning required of students, but the

obligations and activities placed upon them by current and prospective schools are also just as

necessary. Maintaining the balance between these two things is not only the responsibility of the

adolescent, but also the responsibility of the school that prepares them for college and careers. If

schools continue to demand impossible amounts of work that must be completed outside of

school hours, they hinder the learning capabilities of their students. In addition to this, these

students are risking permanent brain damage and the likelihood of many physical health

problems in order to fulfill the academic requirements placed upon them. This is

counterproductive seeing how students can not meet such requirements with quality work
 McGee 6

because they cannot function to the best of their ability when they are not able to sleep properly.

If schools claim to focus solely on equal opportunity for all students to succeed, then the problem

presented by the lack of sleep and the overabundance of academic requirements must be

addressed and combatted. If this is not the case then the school system is at fault for the negative

health implications that directly correlate with school work and lack of sleep. Asking students to

sacrifice their physical and mental health for the sake of a high-quality and competitive

education is obviously wrong, yet it is often the reality.

 McGee 7

Works Cited

Baum, Katherine T et al. “Sleep restriction worsens mood and emotion regulation in

adolescents” Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines vol. 55,2

(2013): 180-90.

“How Is the Body Affected by Sleep Deprivation?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute

of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/sleep/conditioninfo/sleep-deprivation.

Poe, Gina R et al. “Cognitive neuroscience of sleep” Progress in brain research vol. 185 (2010):

1-19.

“What Happens To Your Brain During Sleep Deprivation?” The Sleep Matters Club, 14 Feb.

2017, www.dreams.co.uk/sleep-matters-club/what-happens-to-your-brain-during-sleep-

deprivation/.

“Why Do We Need Sleep?” National Sleep Foundation,

www.sleepfoundation.org/excessivesleepiness/content/why-do-we-need-sleep.