Horns are blaring as cars whizz by, a man opens his eyes, his car is shaking as semi-trucks fly by his car that he has fallen asleep in while sitting in traffic. He quickly puts his car into drive and continues on to begin his day of work. This scenario has become all too common with the amount of people that have or have had a case of sleep deprivation. People require sleep to be able to function correctly in the world today. Sleep deprivation is a major problem that is not only dangerous to someone’s health mentally and physically, but is also dangerous to the people surrounding them. Considering things like the fact that the annual number of nonfatal car crash injuries attributed to falling asleep is forty-thousand and the number of fatal car crashes annually is one thousand five hundred and fifty (Statistic Brain). With the car fatality rate rising it becomes easy to see just how dangerous sleep deprivation can become. Many people purposely avoid sleeping by indulging themselves in technology that is easily accessible to them like television, computers or laptops, and their phones, however some people do not have a choice on whether or not they get any sleep due to things such as having sleeping disorders or having to work multiple jobs.
The technological word we live in today is one of the major causes of sleep deprivation. Many high-school students and or college students tend to stay up later than average doing things such as studying on their computers or laptops, watching TV, or playing video games. Researchers have said “the flashing lights on the games and TV shows may be resetting the circadian rhythm, changing the body’s internal clocks” (Florence Cardinal). Although this doesn’t seem to uncommon to many since a ...
... middle of paper ...
...ers lie restlessly in their beds while men and women come from work to get that treasured hour or two of sleep only to wake up and head off to their second or third job. Looking at all the information it becomes fairly obvious how much could be affecting peoples sleeping patterns. Sleep deprivation is something that affects everyone at some point in their life whether their a student, a teacher, a doctor, or a janitor and everyone has their reasons for staying up whether their good reasons like studying or work or not really solid reasons like staying up all night watching TV, or playing games. Either way sleep deprivation is something that can cause a major issue to everyone and is something that needs to be controlled in order to keep order and harmony in people’s lives. Without those things everything that society has built up could easily collapse in on itself.
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
During the winter quarter of 2014, biology 155 students examined for one week circadian body rhythms during “normal” activity and rest periods. The students had to go to sleep between 10 and 12 o’clock, wake up around 6 and 8 in the morning and had to do usual activities for it to be considered a “normal” day in a week’s period. During a 24 hour period students had to interrupt their “normal” sleep period in order to collect some data. Every 2 hours, 12 times in total, three function tests were conducted in the same order and had to be written do...
The CDC recommends a minimum of 7-8 hours a night for adults, but many adults fall far below this range.[3,4], However, the recommendation does not take into consideration people’s different lifestyles, which might necessitate getting even more sleep. Thus, it is advisable to consult a health professional to determine the right amount of sleep for each individual. Much of poor academic performance and even physical accidents can be prevented by eliminating sleep deprivation. According to a survey by the CDC, 7% of 25-34 year olds fell asleep while driving during the previous 30 days before being surveyed. Over ⅓ of all adults report unintentionally falling asleep in the same time period. Alarmingly, the Department of Transportation estimates that drowsy driving is responsible for 1550 fatalities, and 40,000 injuries
Wells, Mary Ellen, and Bradley V. Vaughn. "Poor Sleep Challenging The Health Of A Nation." Neurodiagnostic Journal 52.3 (2012): 233-249. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 May 2014.
It should be noted that the findings of this report are limited by the current knowledge available. As such public awareness of sleep deprivation and the science of sleep must be raised so that sleeping disorders such as sleep deprivation may be completely understood and treated.
Many times people think they can accomplish more if they could eliminate so much sleeping time. However, they are only hurting their productivity if they lose sleep. Two articles deal with the issue of sleep deprivation. The College Student Journal published an article about the grade-point average of college students and sleep length, while U.S. News & World Report produced an article dealing with the lack of
According to Wilson (2005), sleep deprivation can cause not only traffic accidents, but also medical conditions such as: obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabo...
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the ideas that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleeping, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during consciousness. If all of these important activities occur during sleep, why is it that people are so willing to short themselves of this vital activity? Although much about sleep still remains a mystery, research and experiments continue to show how important sleep is to each and every person. Throughout this paper, I will discuss sleep and the effects that it has on performance and health, especially in college students. A college student’s sleeping pattern is a reliable indicator to their level of performance in the classroom and other school-affiliated activities, as a lack of sleep leads to decreased performance. Sleep is directly related the level of performance and health in an individual; the more rested a person is, the better that person will perform and feel (Dryer, 2006).
Social Media has brought on an epidemic of sleep deprivation to people of all ages. All through the night they wake with the “beeps” and “dings” of new messages. They have been craving the sound of a new message and when it comes, no matter what time of the day (or night), they are quick in responding to whatever and whoever the message may be about. This addiction has been kept in-check but with the cost of a good night’s sleep. Today’s generation has been leaving the thought of sleep behind only to lose valuable relaxation time. Many people “…text, tweet, check messages, and post things right before sleeping” (Addiction). This had been proven to “…reduce melatonin in the brain” (Addiction) thus taking away minute by minute of our precious sleep. We put our phones down when we think necessary and go to sleep only to be awaken again within the next half-an-hour. The fact that we keep our devices on through the night does not help our case.
Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.
As stated in “External Factors”, the light from phones and computers has a major influence on one's internal clock. The influence light has on a person’s internal clock interferes with one’s sleeping habits which can cause sleep patterns to be in disarray. Due to sleep patterns being obstructed, sleep deprivation can become a real issue. Television is another example of light influencing a person’s sleeping habits. As previously stated in “External Factors”, light from electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, and television can have unpredictable effects on one’s sleep patterns which could cause a person’s internal clock to reset, making it difficult to fall asleep. For example, if a student’s internal clock has been reset and the student’s sleeping pattern has been disrupted, the student may not fall asleep until a late hour which leaves the student sleep deprived when the student must be up at an early time.
Central idea : Sleep is vital to our health and well-being throughout our life, therefore, in order to protect our mental and physical health, quality of life, and safety, we must get an enough quality sleep at the right times.
However, the lack of sleep can come from our environment or from ourselves. Cornell graduate student, Rebecca Robins, found that when she researched how students talk about sleep, it was mainly in negative terms over eighty percent of the time (Pope 1). College students have some influence over their sleeping habits, but so can universities. The University of Louisville, for example, is having a “flash nap,” which is like a group of people having a quick nap and some universities even have sleep seminars (Pope 1). Participants in a sleep study took an eighteen-week course on sleep, then were evaluated for sleep improvement, but this test only had a limited number of subjects meaning it was not a reliable study (Hershner & Chervin 80). Furthermore, spreading awareness of sleep does provide a positive outcome, though on a university scale it would be different. Considering that there are thousands of universities all across the country where students are sleep deprived, it is necessary for students to learn how to use their time to receive an adequate amount of
“The current explosion of digital technology not only is changing the way we live and communicate, but is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains (Carr). When someone stays up all night staring at their cell phone, it is changing their sleep schedule. Blue enriched light that is emitted from mobile devices can suppress the body’s release of melatonin at night (Hiscott). Melatonin is the key hormone that controls someone 's internal clock, and when not enough is released, a body is oblivious to when it is supposed to be asleep. Sleep is crucial for successful development in a young child’s
Wells, M., & Vaughn, B. V. (2012). Poor Sleep Challenging the Health of a Nation. Neurodiagnostic Journal,52(3), 233-249.