Sleep Deprivation In Teenagers

According to a 2010 survey published in The Journal of Adolescent Health, only 8% of high school students get the recommended amount of sleep which is nine hours, 23% of high school students get six hours of sleep, and 10% get 5 hours of hours. After school activities and the amount of homework contribute to the little amount of sleep teenagers are getting. Most students have after school activities such as jobs and sports, so they get home later and still have about 5 hours of homework every night. Sleep deprivation is a serious problem in teenagers that gets overlooked by many people. The reason teenagers are sleep deprived is because of the start time of schools and the amount of homework students are given. A solution to sleep deprivation could be to push back the start times in school, lessen the amount of homework per night students are given, and to make a website to raise awareness.

“Sleep Deprivation describes the cumulative effect of a person not having sufficient sleep.” (Weintraub, American Psychological Association) Many honorable scientists and laboratories have studied the human body and how it functions. Not only have scientists studied what happens to humans while awake, but scientists have also have discovered what happens when humans are asleep or are trying to get to sleep. Every human being has a specific time their body would like to go to sleep whether they know it or not. As children get older, their bodies go through a change and they develop what is known as a sleep phase delay. A sleep phase delay is, “The process of teenagers naturally going to bed later than usual.” (Garey, Child Mind