BookWorm in Hiding

English Honors (I am doing a different format than most students)

8 February 2018

Sleep es Muy
Importante
Sleep is an important part of life, but many teenagers do not get enough to function well

academically, physically, or mentally. For instance, a poll taken by the National Sleep

Foundation,” showed that over 80% of those tested reported getting less than 8 and a half to 9

hours of sleep on a school night, which is the prescribed amount of sleep for the average

teenager (Brody). As a result being sleep deprived has become an everyday event for about ⅘

of America's teenagers. The importance of sleep has been undermined by the rush and stress

of today's society. In retrospect not sleeping is like not eating. Both are fuel for the body. If one

does not get enough to eat then they will get tired and it is more likely for them to get sick,

injured, or have an accident. It is the same for not getting enough sleep. It makes it harder to get

along with people and can be fatal especially if you try to drive. Falling asleep causes 100,000

car crashes every year (Teens & Sleep). In conclusion, life is being dragged down with injuries,

and illnesses in the mind and body of many American teenagers, because of the growing

epidemic of sleep deprivation.

Too much sleep is as big a problem as not getting enough, overdosing on ways to rejuvenate

oneself is also a habit that, for some, could be fatal. Many resort to caffeine to try to wake up,

lots and lots of caffeine. Which is not a good thing, too much caffeine can cause a person to
become confused and disoriented. It can also cause Heart palpitations, insomnia, heighten the

speed of the heart, and many more symptoms. For instance, older teenagers don’t need the

8-10 hours of sleep suggested for younger teens (Prabhune), but they are more likely to resort

to caffeine if they don’t get enough sleep. However, both sleeping too much, and sleeping too

little, are issues. Trying to get the same amount of sleep every night is important, differing

amounts of sleep can hurt mental health (Prabhune). Although one would think that catching up

on lost sleep would help to wake up, in fact, it can create even more exhaustion, make one

more prone to pimples, acne, and other skin issues (Teens and Sleep), and can affect mood.

This is proved when students were asked to take a test every day for 2 weeks, marking down

how long they slept, and their mood the next day. A large number of students that participated

reported that after 10 hours of sleep they were in a good mood the next day (Prabhune), In

other words, sleep is incredibly important, and many don’t realize the everyday effect it has on

us. It is one of the main fuels for the body, both overfilling, and underfilling the tank is bad, and

trying to give it too much of a boost can also damage the machine that is known as the human

body.

There are several ways to help lessen the harmful effects of sleep deprivation for American

teenagers, one of many is to simply get more sleep. In fact, teenagers systems seem to start

changing up when they hit puberty. It takes about 2 hours for a teen to feel how tired they are,

rather than when as a younger child they would feel it immediately, this is called a “Phase

Delay”. Falling asleep earlier becomes more difficult, leading to wanting to sleep in (Sifferlin). As

a result, many schools are starting to delay their start time, which in turn would cause schools to

get out later. This is a problem in many scenarios, starting school later could make it harder to

do sports, participate in a club, or have a job. In addition, many parents and guardians worry
that pushing back schools start time will simply encourage students to sleep in later, and begin

the cycle of sleep-deprived students all over again. But in 2010 a study was taken from a high

school that began a half of an hour later, showed that their students slept for 45 minutes longer,

and went to bed earlier than they used to. The big difference between the sleep time of their

students and the students of schools that started at the regular time was that their students got

an hour more of sleep (Sifferlin). Nevertheless, there is still a large amount of opposition,

pushing against the roaring tide of those who believe in giving America’s future generations

more sleep. In fact, it takes about 2 hours longer to do homework that would have only taken

about 3 hours if one was well rested. In a study of 9,000 high school students in Minnesota, it

showed that delaying the start is school by 30 minutes gave most of the students about an extra

hour of sleep. Many fear that starting school later will result in sleeping in more and more,

lowering students test scores. This fear should be put to rest do to this study and many others

like it. They have shown that GPAs and standardized test scores have swelled (Brody).

Furthermore, the movement to start schools later is gaining national support, being backed by

those such as the United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “It’s completely a local

decision, but I’d like to see more school districts at least consider delaying start times” (Sifferlin).

In conclusion, there a solution that could help put an end to sleep deprivation in teenagers, it not

a perfect solution, but it is a good one, that even the United States Secretary of Education

agrees with.
 Works Cited

Brody, Jane E. “Hard Lesson in Sleep for Teenagers.” ​The New York Times​, 20 Oct. 2014,

Personal Health sec. ​The New York Times​,

well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/sleep-for-teenagers/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2018.

Prabhune, Meenakshi. “For Teens, a Good Mood Depends on Good Sleep.” ​Science News for

Students​, Society for Science and the Public, 21 Nov. 2017,

www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/teens-good-mood-depends-good-sleep.

Accessed 13 Feb. 2018.

Sifferlin, Alexandra. “When Sleep and School Don’t Mix.” ​Time​, 14 Sep. 2015,

time.com/when-sleep-and-school-dont-mix/.

"Teens and Sleep." ​National Sleep Foundation​, sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/

teens-and-sleep. Accessed 5 Feb. 2018.