Paige Castelhano

Honors English Foundations II - A1

Mr. Bless

5 September, 2017

“Sleep Deprivation” Response

In the article “Sleep Deprivation”, the author, Sandee LaMotte, conveys the thesis that receiving

little to no sleep is detrimental to one’s health and lifestyle. She uses logos, meaning she

provides facts – primarily studies in this case – to support her position. For instance, she cited a

study conducted by RAND Europe which reveals the effect that sleeping for less than 6 hours a

night has on Americans’ paychecks. According to the study, employees’ lack of sleep causes the

U.S. to lose “an estimated $411 billion each year” (1). This evidence strengthens the author’s

thesis that a deficit in sleep results in a poor lifestyle. In the section “Poor repairs”, LaMotte

describes the necessity of deep sleep in order to produce hormones which a person’s brain and

body requires to repair cells and build tissue. Because of this, deep sleep is most important for

growing children and teenagers. Unfortunately, nearly all teens are receiving less sleep than they

need to repair and build their bodies and brains. A Sleep in America poll shows that more than

“90% of U.S. high school students are chronically sleep-deprived” (2).