Paper: The Issues behind Sleep Deprivation
PH 144 Health Behavior Theory
Ian Jang (72657137)
University of California Irvine
Introduction:
The public health problem that I am addressing is the lack of sleep. The target population will be adolescents and college students in America. Sleep is important to health because the timing, quality, and duration are essential. Sleep plays a big role in good health and well-being throughout your life. How you feel when you are awake comes from how well you slept at night. Sleep has a direct correlation with metabolic regulation, emotional regulation, performance, memory consolidation, learning, and brain recuperation process. Because of these factors it should be viewed as just as important
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Studies have shown that instagram and snapchat have become two of the most popular apps today used by young people. When more energy is spent on social media right before sleeping it takes longer to fall asleep because your body and brain is still concentrating on what you were doing in the hour prior. Technology use is prominent right before heading to bed because there is more time to relax and stare at your cell phone. During the day the chances of using cellphones are slimmer due to the fact that the subject may be at work or school. Sleep deprivation can either be voluntary or involuntary. There is also partial sleep loss where an individual can be sleeping, but not getting the full rest that they need. Partial sleep deprivation could be caused by medical conditions, lifestyle, jet lag, shift work, overtime, and sleep disorders. Sleep problems are widespread and can lead to motor vehicle crashes or mistakes in the workplace. Sleep loss leads to a weaker immune system, unintentional sleeping, and lack of memory/learning capabilities, weight loss and negative cardiovascular …show more content…
People develop poor sleeping habits simply because they underestimate the importance of sleep. Education plays a huge role in determining an individual’s ideology on whether or not they need sleep. “In the Journal of School Health in 2009, we discovered that students know what to do and how to do it, in regards to getting an adequate amount of sleep. However they still practice risky behaviors. In the study 82% of participants believed that exercising on a daily basis throughout the week would aid sleep, but only 68.4 percent actually exercised regularly.” Similarly 70% of students knew naps aid sleep, but oy 38.6% take naps. From the research it entails that it is not that students don’t know what to do to solve sleep deprivation, but they just do not want to follow through with facing it. Students do not care because other factors such as social life and academic prestige outweigh the value of sleep. If we want a chance to decrease sleep deprivation among students than first we must change the attitude and mentality of the students regarding sleeping habits. Attribution theory and communication theory can be used to demonstrate that if one adolescent can put down their smart phone and social media while still having fun it can cause other adolescents to do the
Many college students suffer from sleep deprivation; only a few students would say that they are getting enough rest at night. Sleep deprivation is caused by not receiving the amount of sleep that the human body needs to function properly throughout the day. Sleep deprivation has many causes and effects that most often lead to depression, physical illness, learning problems, and irregular sleep patterns; Elizabeth Austin offers two solutions to help college students cope with sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation (SD) is a common phenomenon encountered by many individuals with different professions. [3] These professions include healthcare, security and drivers working at night. [1] The average length of sleep that an individual needs is between 7 and 8.5h per day. [quoted in 1] However, this varies between individuals with different age and gender. Pilcher and Huffcutt found that both total and partial SD give adverse effects on human functioning. [2] Researchers have concluded that sleep deprivation affects cognitive performance [1,2], motor performance and mood of an individual. [2]
Another reason that causes the negative relationship between sleep deprivation and academic performance is the impact of high-stress level that is caused by sleep deprivation. As mentioned earlier, sleep deprivation could decrease a student’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills. However, it can also make the students feel more stressful. According to the survey conducted in Ball State campus, there are 15 students that often do their homework before they go to bed. 10 students play video games, computer games, and mobile games before they go to sleep. 8 students use their electronic devices to do social activities. 5 students watch movies and television series and 2 students read books before they go to bed. This information proves
Sleep is a reoccurring act that is part of our daily lives. It is one of the most important elements of human health. The natural state of sleep has been studied throughout the years of human evolution. It occurs when hormones are released throughout the body to make the individual begin to fall asleep. The importance of sleep is often overlooked amongst humans, leading to a disorder. There are problems that occur in the human body that are of higher importance and require more attention. Sleep disorders should be viewed as a priority to humans because it alters human health, presents as a precipitating factor for other health problems, and can be treated quickly.
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 among college students. A college student’s sleeping pattern is a reliable indicator of 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 to the level of performance and health of an individual; the more rested a person is, the better that person will perform and feel (Dryer, 2006).
In the world of higher education, students at the collegiate level are highly likely to be overwhelmed with course load, in addition to sports and extra-curricular activities (Jacobs & Dodd, 2003). These factors have the potential to lead to various amounts of sleep deprivation, and as the research of Nilsson, Sunderstrom, Karlsson et al. (2004) has shown, sleep deprivation is correlated with higher levels of fatigue, impairments in speed and accuracy as well as limitations in cognitive and physical performances. One way to cope with this fatigue that has shown to have very positive results on people of all ages is taking naps. In addition to reducing sleepiness, Milner & Cote (2008) have determined that “napping may lead to considerable benefits in terms of mood, alertness and cognitive performances”. It is these benefits that nappers seek when engaging in napping activities.
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
Carpenter, S. (n.d.). Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health. http://www.apa.org. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.aspx
Sleep has always been a popular subject among humans. There have been many studies that examine sleep and its correlation with a wide variety of variables, such as depression, energy levels, and grades. Students, as a group, are widely studied. As the world’s future leaders and thinkers, there is great importance placed on their achievements. In this study the effect of student sleep habits on perceived academic performance is investigated. Many things may affect students’ academic success among these variables are sleep habits.
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.
Sleep is a necessity to our body but due to social media we are not getting nearly as much as we should be getting. It has become so bad that we simply cannot go a moment without updating our status or checking other people’s status and because of this we tend to stay up late hours and keep our devices on through the night. We have way too many distractions and our mind is simply not relaxing enough for our bodies to be nice and energized in the morning. We have developed an overpowering need to be “in with the gossip” which has made us sacrifice a necessity. The “rings” and “dings” of a new message have been engraved in our minds in the place of sleep. Social Media has brought an end a good night sleep as we know it. Who knows when the next time you get a good sleep will be.
A survey revealed that “two thirds of participants reported difficulty relaxing and sleeping after they used the sites, while 55% said they felt ‘worried or uncomfortable’ when they were unable to log onto their social media accounts” (Whiteman, pg.2). I interviewed five people and they all informed that they go to bed with their phones right next to them. In today 's modern society, 72% of adults spend their time in bed before falling asleep updating or checking their friends status updates on Facebook (BEDTIME SOCIAL NETWORKING CAUSES SLEEP DEPRIVATION EPIDEMIC ACROSS BRITAIN). These statistics are often offered as evidence that adolescents ' social habits and school schedules are cutting into needed sleep time. Being exposed to bright light from computer and mobile phone screens while in bed completely delays the brain and body 's ability to get to sleep. The act of this behavior makes people unable to get to sleep as quickly as they should and aren 't getting the required amount of sleep they need each night. A connection between sleep and mental health is well documented. It has been shown that people who suffer from anxiety tend to spend less time in deep sleep than those without anxiety (Sleep and Mental Health). Robotham put it best when he said, “good sleep is fundamental to good mental health, just as good mental health is fundamental to good sleep,” (Sleep and Mental Health). Social media technologies do keep users out of bed; if one already is having trouble sleeping, social media sites are a handy way to pass the
Now when people go to bed they stay awake to look at their social media applications on their phones while lying in bed. This can cause sleep deprivation because you are up later reading about other people’s day. The light from the phone also causes your brain to not shut off for the night as easily. It has been suggested that exposure to bright lights at the wrong time of the day can alter circadian rhythm sleep with insomnia and excessive sleepiness (Wolniczak, Cacerer-DelAguila, Palma-Ardiles, Arroyo, Solis-Visscher, Peredes-Yairi, Mego-Antonio, Pernabe-Ortiz 3). Many hours of sleep per week are lost due to social media, which in turn also decreases productivity at
Sleep is very important for human beings. Sleeping means taking rest for every person and each person spends one-third of his lifetime sleeping. Without sleeping, no one can exist in this world. Sleeping is essential for a person’s health and well-being throughout his life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps all people protect their mental health, physical health and safety. A person who does not get enough sleep might suffer from mental disorders, diseases and even harmful situations. Therefore, it is important for every human being to have enough sleep.
Sleep is something that we are all familiar with; after all, we each do it at least once a day. Even so, the majority of us remain ignorant of the facts of sleep and few of us understand how important this mundane action is to our personal health. We live in a sleep-sick society where people stay up all night to work, study, or simply to just have fun. So then, what happens when we give-up sleep in order to emulate the 24/7 culture that we live in and is there a “price” for sleep deprivation? More importantly, what effect, if any, does lack of sleep have on one's physical and mental health? In order to answer these questions, one must first understand how sleep works and what causes sleep deprivation. Once armed with some basic knowledge on these subjects, it is important to learn the impact of sleep deprivation on a person’s mental and physical health and