Academic Report: Sleep Deprivation in Teenagers - Causes & Impact

This report provides an overview of sleep deprivation, emphasizing its importance for overall health and well-being, particularly in teenagers. It discusses the requirement of sleep, dividing it into REM and NREM stages, and highlights the physical and mental impacts of sleep deprivation, including decreased motivation, increased risk of depression, and potential health problems. The report also explores various causes of sleep deprivation among teens, such as hormonal shifts, hectic schedules, leisure activities, light exposure, and social attitudes. Furthermore, it presents Australian statistics on sleep-deprived teenagers, noting the economic and personal costs associated with sleep disorders. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for adequate sleep to support growth, development, and overall productivity, recommending that teenagers get 8-9 hours of sleep per day.

ACADEMIC LITERACY STUDY
Topic: Sleep Deprivation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Requirement of sleep...................................................................................................................4
Impact of sleep deprivation.........................................................................................................5
Causes of sleep deprivation.........................................................................................................6
Sleep deprived teenagers' statistics in Australia?........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................8

Illustration Index

INTRODUCTION
Sleep is a basic requirement of every individual and it is important to take adequate sleep for better
functioning of the body. Sleep is an important of life for the children between the age of 10-17 years.
Inadequate sleep may result in lack of motivation, lethargic body, weak immune system, aggression etc. It also
increases health related issues such as heart stroke, high blood pressure etc as well. Sleep is divided in two
broad categories, that is, REM and NREM which an individual experiences every night1. A brief discussion on
requirement of sleep has been provided in the report. Further, it discusses the factors that a person can
experience due to sleep deprivation. It also ponders on the requirement of sleep for teens as it is the stage of
growth and development. Moreover, various causes of sleep deprivation had also been discussed in the report.
In the end Australian statistics of teens, deprived of sleep has been focussed upon.
Requirement of sleep
Sleep has a direct impact on the mental and physical health of a person. It also affects the productivity,
health of brain and heart, immunity and creativity. It also influences weight of a person. Sleep not only closes
the bodies activity but review biological functions and prepare the body for next day. The amount of sleep
required by a person vary based on age. Children require more sleep than adults. The general guidelines of
sleep requirement show that adolescents who are between the ages of 10 – 17 years requires 8.5-9.25 hours
of sleep in a particular day. On the other hand, adults who are above 17 years requires 7 – 9 hours of sleep in
order to stay productive and energetic throughout the day2.
The requirement of sleep keeps on decreasing as a child starts growing up3. Younger child can sleep
the longest even in loud noises due to physiological reasons. However, as the child reached its teenage years
the person gets sleep deprived due to their commitments at schools and college.
What happens during sleep?
Sleep consists of two broad stages, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and NREM sleep (Non-Rapid Eye
Movement). REM sleep involves rapid eye movement, where the person dreams the most and experience fast
pulse and breathing. It occurs in various intervals in one night. The moment at which there is no rapid eye
1
? De Havas, J. A. and et.al., 2012. Sleep deprivation reduces default mode network connectivity and anti-correlation during rest
and task performance. Neuroimage, 59(2), pp.1745-1751.
2
? Kamdar, B. B., Needham, D. M. and Collop, N. A., 2012. Sleep deprivation in critical illness: its role in physical and
psychological recovery. Journal of intensive care medicine. 27(2). pp.97-111.
3
? Lo, J.C. and et.al., 2012. Effects of partial and acute total sleep deprivation on performance across cognitive domains,
individuals and circadian phase. PloS one. 7(9). p.e45987.
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movement then that called non-REM sleep. The interval of REM and non- REM sleep depends upon the age of
the person. However, 70% to 80% of sleep consist of NREM sleep which is due to an electrical pattern in the
brain called 'sleep spindles' and high slow delta waves. During the NREM phase of sleep, the person tends to
have deepest sleep. On the other hand, during the phase of REM sleep, the person gets emotional and vivid
dreams. REM sleep allows the brain to deal with emotions and situations which a person does not encounter in
daily life. The muscles get immediate paralysed during this time of sleep which also helps to unlearn unwanted
memories and situations. During night, the person has 5 stages of sleep every 90 to 110 minutes, which results
in experiencing 3-5 dreams every night4.
Impact of sleep deprivation
There are various physical and mental impacts on the body due to sleep deprivation.
Further, it creates some mild to chronic impacts on a person's body. Some effects are listed below
 Lack of motivation
 Body gets lethargic
 Increase in risk of depression
 Reduce in creativity and problem-solving skills
 Difficulty in decision making
 Not able to cope up with stress
 Mood swings
 Weak immune system
 Weight gain
 Aggression
 Reduced academic performance
 Concentration difficulties
 Increases the risk of serious health problems with includes heart stroke, high blood pressure,
Alzheimer's disease and certain kind of cancers
Australia has been facing various economic issues due to the increase in sleep deprivation. The productivity of
the country has decreased in comparison to that of previous years. The total cost for sleep disorders per
annum comprises is $10.3 billion5. The cost incurred by the country in treatment of sleep disorders is $0.62
4
? Greer, S. M., Goldstein, A. N. and Walker, M. P., 2013. The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human
brain. Nature communications. 4. p.2259.
5
? Bunney, B. G. and Bunney, W. E., 2013. Mechanisms of rapid antidepressant effects of sleep deprivation therapy: clock
genes and circadian rhythms.Biological psychiatry. 73(12). pp.1164-1171.
5

billion per annum. Increased cases of vehicles accident have also been experienced in Australia due to lack of
sleep6. The highest cost is incurred in premature deaths due to inadequate sleep by the individual.
Causes of sleep deprivation
There are various reasons due to which teens do not sleep properly. Some of them are discussed
below:
 Hormonal time shift: After reaching the age of puberty the time of body clock changes which makes
teenagers sleep one or two hours later than that of their normal time. Sleeping for short hours than
usual makes them sleep deprived and affects their body functions
 Hectic schedule after school: School communities, homework, assignments, exams, reduces their
sleeping time.
 Involvement in leisure activities: teenagers tend to use towards entertainment sources such as
television, internet and gaming to keep them out of bed till late at night.
 Light exposure: Light sends the signal to stay awake. During the evening time, lights of the mobile
phone and computer prevents the production of a chemical known as melatonin which is responsible
for sleep.
 Social attitudes: Staying online on social media websites and socializing late night keep their mind
active in later hours as well, resulting in lack of sleep. Social media websites and increase in the use of
smartphones have also affected the sleep cycle of teens in Australia.
Sleep deprived teenagers' statistics in Australia?
In Australia, sleep deprivation caused 9.1% injuries during work, 8.3% of depression, 7.6% of non-
work-related vehicles accidents, 2.9% of diabetes and 0.6% of cardiovascular diseases. According to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 4% of people in Australia are on sleeping medications. Chronic insomnia
leads to family issues, increase in the use of alcohol, reduced work performance and increases emotional
imbalance. This kind of people become less optimistic in life and tend to face lack of determination in life.
Based on the research conducted by better sleep council 44% of people tend to have bad mood at work due to
poor cycle of sleep. Poor sleep which is quite common among the teenagers degrades their academic
performance and increase mood swings which results in less optimistic behaviour.
According to a survey conducted in the Australian industry the most common problem faced by
teenagers is difficulty in falling asleep (18%). Another problems faced by them are waking up early in the
6
? Reiter, R. J. and et.al., 2012. Obesity and metabolic syndrome: association with chronodisruption, sleep deprivation, and
melatonin suppression. Annals of medicine. 44(6). pp.564-577.
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morning (13%), general difficulties in sleep (12%) and problems staying asleep (9%). It has affected their
lifestyle and personal relationships7.
According to the graph above, teenagers get to sleep less during weekdays when they have to attend
colleges and schools. They get engaged in various activities such as completing their homework, studying for
the exams, socializing and other work which results in unbalanced and poor sleep and its cycle. Due to this,
students are not able to perform well in their assignments. It has been noticed that teenagers choose to sleep
later at night and wake up late in the morning.
Teenagers are required to take at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep in a day. Teenagers in Australia are not
able to get proper sleep due to their involvement in various activities such as; high involvement in colleges and
schools, pressure to perform appropriately in academics, constant activity on social media reduce their
sleeping time. Other things such as involvement in consumption of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, food and
exercise during late hours also reduce the production of melatonin which is responsible for sleep. Australian
teenagers tend to sleep on an average of 5 to 6 hours every night which is quite very less than what is actually
required. Another challenge faced by teenagers in Australia is early school hours which forces them to wake
up early in the morning even when they slept late at night. Further, it results in less sleeping hours affecting
productivity of their work for next day.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that sleep is an important aspect of life which is required to
be adequately taken. Teens required more sleep in comparison to adults since it is an important stage of
growth and development. They require about 8-9 hours of sleep in a day. Further, there are various factors
which affect sleep such as, work pressure, socializing etc. Inadequate sleep leads to several physical and
mental problems such as; high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. It also reduces the performance and productivity
of a child. It is very common and prevailing in Australia where $10.3 billion in the estimated cost incurred on
sleep disorders. It is important for the adolescent to take adequate amount of sleep unless it causes lack of
motivation, difficulty in decision making, mood swings etc. Further, it is also an important factor contributing
towards the growth of a child and brain development as well.
7
? Bunney, B. G. and Bunney, W. E., 2013. Mechanisms of rapid antidepressant effects of sleep deprivation therapy: clock
genes and circadian rhythms.Biological psychiatry. 73(12). pp.1164-1171.
7

BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.howsleepworks.com/types_nonrem.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/07/australia-we-have-a-sleep-deprivation-problem_a_21708513/
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/CaSHome.nsf/Home/CasMa07+MIRROR,
+MIRROR.....WHO+IS+THE+SLEEPIEST+OF+THEM+ALL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229101/
https://sleepfoundation.org/excessivesleepiness/content/why-do-we-need-sleep
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/sleep-needs-get-the-sleep-you-need.htm
Online
Arlington. K, 2016. Smartphones are ruling our lives and killing our imaginations. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.smh.com.au/technology/mobiles/smartphones-are-ruling-our-lives-and-killing-our-
imaginations-20160316-gnkliq.html> [Accessed on 12th July 2017].
Sleep and Teens. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <http://sleepcenter.ucla.edu/sleep-and-teens> [Accessed
on 12th July 2017].
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