Research Paper

With only 24 hours in a day, it’s hard to believe that about a third of that time is supposed to be used for sleeping.  Sleep is one of the most intriguing yet seemingly uneventful functions we have as humans.  Those eight hours a night should be a main priority because it affects every other aspect of our lives.  However, with the rise of technology,  the average amount of sleep seems to be declining worldwide as people begin finding different ways to use their time.  But how we clock out each night is essential to the rest of our day because of how it affects our physical health, mental health and even our success.

It’s important to understand the consequences of bad quality sleep, or simply not getting enough sleep.   There are a myriad of effects that come with skimping on the suggested eight hours average per night, and it affects nearly every facet of one’s life.  “Feeling tired” is probably the easiest way to tell if you’re not getting enough sleep.  However, this is often subjective because of the way sleep often varies across nights.  But this is the least of our problems because sleep deprivation can have much more serious consequences that aren’t as readily apparent (Pevzner, 2019).  The culture surrounding sleep nowadays has also taken a toll on the average amount of sleep people get, especially young adults and teens.  To them, sleep is sometimes seen as a game rather than a necessity.  They play by golf rules: the less sleep you get, the better.  But studies show that anything less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night can be detrimental to an adolescent’s developing brain (Pevzner, 2019).  From toddlers to the elderly, we all still need a regular sleep schedule to function, and more importantly, thrive.

For most people, one of the main problems that plague our everyday lives is procrastination.  This time-management issue is most commonly found in teens as they put off the responsibilities of homework and studying in lieu of other more interesting activities. So the first thing that’s usually pushed aside is sleep, leading to an overall decrease in cognitive function.  Even though things like caffeine and power naps give the impression that they’re helping, there’s no real way to make up for lost sleep. This natural function of our bodies can’t easily be replaced due to its inherent importance in everyday life.

In Nothing to Yawn At, Olivia Arnold states, “Sleep struggles can have major ramifications on all levels of a student’s well-being.”  Arnold conducted an experiment to see how different factors of college students’ lives can affect their sleep and if sleep would, in turn, affect their academic success.  With a few exceptions due to limitations in the study, it was clear that students getting more sleep did better overall in their classes.  However, the quality of sleep as determined by each person seems to have the opposite effect where those with bad quality sleep had higher grades than those with good quality sleep.  It’s not entirely clear why there’s a disconnect between sleep quality and quantity.  It may be due to the results being self-reported and possibly people not being able to gauge quality as well as they would the amount of sleep they get.  Nevertheless, one of the last things Arnold wanted to test in this group of college students was their awareness of the importance of sleep.  About 90% of participants agreed that sleep was important, from varying degrees of somewhat important to extremely important.  However, this raises the question: If we know that sleep is so important, why are we still not getting enough of it?

To answer that question, we need to study what people do when they’re awake.  Work, naps and even caffeine intake contribute to the quality and duration of sleep.  However, the most widespread cause of later sleeping times in the past decade is cell phone usage (Pevzner, 2019).  The lights emitted from the screens inhibit sleep. Even if you manage to fall asleep in front of a screen, your mind still processes the light being emitted from the screen.  Additionally, the increased exposure to light past sundown is also a problem for our internal clocks.  One’s circadian rhythm is determined with the help of natural light and darkness, and once night falls, melatonin and leptin hormones are released to start the process of sleep (Bryant, Gómez, 2015).   With the increased use of technology though, most people, especially teenagers, are sleeping later than their bodies demand.  Along with a delay in sleep hormone release, early school and work times are also major reasons why teens don’t sleep as much as they should (“Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents”, 2019).

After analyzing the many reasons for a later sleep time, how is one’s health impacted after not getting enough sleep?  The article The New Science of Sleep, says that diabetes, hypertension, obesity and even our ability to feel pain is heightened by just one night of bad sleep.  On top of that, our cognitive efforts are significantly decreased, even if it’s not immediately noticeable.  This is especially prevalent in adolescents, where inadequate sleep leads to decreased memory capacity and critical thinking abilities (Bryant, Gómez, 2015).

Although sleep doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose besides making us “less tired”, it’s actually much more complex than that.  The importance of adequate sleep has been downplayed greatly in recent years, but it’s imperative we don’t lose sight of what’s actually good for us.  Whether it’s for physical or mental health reasons, or just to improve general success, a good night’s sleep is an essential first step towards your goals.

Writing Process

Reflection:

Sleep has been something that’s been important in my life, but I usually take it for granted. So when I got the opportunity to express how much this means to me while also learning more about sleep hygiene and healthy habits, I was really excited. Though this piece took me abnormally long to finish, I wanted to do this topic justice since most of the time sleep isn’t prioritized in people’s lives, like I said in the paper. But what I find most ironic about this is that the time I usually started working on this piece about good sleep habits was 2 am.