Sleep Deprivation in Teens

Every morning thousands of groggy eyed and restless students scamper out of bed to make it to their early morning classes. These students often get to class in a state not suitable for learning. In my paper I have investigated how sleep deprivation is a major problem for teens and hinders the learning process.

There many reasons that sleep deprivation is a problem for teens and just as many reasons why school is not compatible with this. Teens require much more sleep then children or adults. Teen's biological clock is not compatible with school times. Sleep deprivation decreases alertness, cognition, and memory.

Teen's biological clock is not compatible with the early start times of school classes. This does not just mean that teens like to stay up late and sleep in later because of partying and other social reasons, there is an actual biological reason that makes teens stay up late and sleep in. When an individual reaches adolescence there circadian timing system within the brain turns on later at night. This controls the secretion of melatonin a neurotransmitter that regulates sleeping times and patterns. The secretion of the melatonin occurs at a later time during the teenage years, and this shift takes place at the same time the body's need for sleep is greatest. This means the teen will be awake later, combined with early class times and the need to wake at such ungodly hours can spell disaster for the minds of many teens. The amount of time needed for sleep also varies with age, and the amount of time needed by teens is more then any other age group. In contrast to teens needing the most sleep they also get the least sleep due to factors such as early class times, and social activities.

Sleep Deprivation is not just a danger to student's grades and how much they learn but also can become a serious health problem as well as carrying many other risks. A person who is sleep deprived driving a car is just as dangerous as a drunk driver. A study done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that sleep deprivation causes over 100'000 vehicle accidents every year and that teen drivers make up over half of these accidents.

Sleep deprivation decreases alertness, cognition, and memory. Thus having very negative effects on how efficiently the student will learn in class. Studies have proven that the more sleep deprived an individual is the larger the decrease in his cognitive functioning. Reduction in memory, and attention are two of the most noticeable negative effects due to lack of sleep and this can be very problematic for students attempting to learn.

In conclusion there are a wide range of reasons proving that sleep deprivation is detrimental to ones health, and hinders the learning process. This is true for all humans but the problem is amplified within the teenage age group.