Question
Dear Karel Sleis,
I am a 6th grader who is currently working on a research project for a research course on sleep deprivation in teenagers. My question is, "How does sleep deprivation affect the daily lives of middle-school and high-school students?" Some of my smaller, more narrowed questions would be:
1) I have heard the sleep deprivation is a widely investigated topic. What portion of the population in America receives the most sleep deprivation (e.g. ages 14-20)?
2) Throughout my investigations, I have encountered many times when the statement that sleep deprivation has many effects on someone mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically. Is it possible that you can list some of these effects in all four categories?
3) I know that teenagers require the most number of hours of sleep from the whole population with the exclusion of babies and very young children who often need around 14 hours. What is the recommended number of hours of sleep for middle-school and high-schoolers around the ages of 11-18?
4) Many times I have heard that during the middle-school and high-school years, teens' biological "clocks" shift gears so that it is only natural that they go to sleep later, around 11 PM and wake up later too? Is there any strong evidence of this and do you approve about this statement?
5) This research question is mainly of correlational research. Do you think that there is any correlation between the number of hours of sleep someone receives on average to the level of academic performance he or she can demonstrate at school?
Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate everything that you have done to help me with my project. If there are any additional questions, I'll ask for your advice as well. Thank you again!
Answer
Sleep deprivation probably though Im not an md prevalent more so in older people as we need less sleep as well as hormonal imbalance. As we get older hormones tend to shift, but the main hormonal shift is when one starts the teenage years,however it is imperative that the teenager get at least 8=10 hours of sleep. Sleep deprived can run havoc on a persons concentration , memory and even their immune system making them more susceptible to illness and colds. Our brains are wired to sleep as sleep refreshes the whole bodies system and without it or not enough of it once has concentration problems, mood swings, overall terrible work performance, depression. If you go to Y.A.W. N. it is Young americans with narcolepsy a great website dedicated to teens as well as sleepnet.com click on disorders then sleep deprivation there are forums as well . Also talk about sleep they have a calender of events where a sleep physician host radio shows and one can call in with their questions or rather live chat. and lastly go to NAPS it is the website for all medical abstracts on sleep. Hope this helps ,I also am enclosing some tips on insomnia. feel free to email again karel
You must reset your sleep clock. Do the following religiously for
4-6 weeks though many have seen changes in as little as 2 weeks.
You must go to bed and awaken the same time every day regardless
of how much or little sleep you got the night before. This starts to
reset your sleep clock. 3 hours before bedtime stay away from
tea, coffee, caffeine, caramel colored soda like, coke,pepsi, ginger ale,
or root beer, chocolate and exercise .All these make for restless sleep.
Make sure room is quiet and dark. When you go to bed if you start to
twist and turn or if you wake up in the middle of the night and cant
go back to sleep, twist and turn for only 20 minutes, then get up, go
into a different room and read a book or magazine only! No computer!
When you start to doze immediately go back into the bedroom.Do this as
many times as you awaken during the night.It will lesson.This retrains
the brain into thinking that the bedroom is for restful sleep only.
30 minutes before bedtime take a hot bath and immerse hands under the
water.Latest research states that the palms of the hand when immersed
in hot water send signals to the brain to relax. 15 minutes before bedtime\
drink a glass of warm milk. Milk when heated contains tryptophan, a
natural amino acid sleep inducer. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders
insomnia for more tips. Feel free to email again , Karel
