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Anna Wolfe

Professor Johnson

Final Draft Essay

12 April 2020

Sleep Equals Life

Sleep is vital in order for a human to function properly. Without sleep people wouldn’t be

able to function to their full capacity on a day to day basis. So how does sleep deprivation effect

the functions of the human brain exactly? It decreases the brains ability to properly retain

information in order to learn or memorize. Their motor skills will be minimal as well as their

ocular sight. Sleep deprivation can actually cause mental health issues, getting enough sleep is a

great way to improve your mental health (but not too much sleep). Sleep deprivation can affect

small life experiences like how well you score on a test. However, it can also cause premature

death, a huge life experience. Sleep deprivation causes the human brain to not function to its full

potential and can ultimately limit the human’s brains basic functions. There are multiple

examples of evidence that can be used to prove this. Experimental, scientific and anecdotal

evidence will be discussed below. Even technology has developed profoundly in such a way as

to now we can watch brain activity and see how sleep deprivation physically affects the brain,

besides monitoring one’s actions without sleep. In order for humans to be humans, they need to

receive adequate sleep.

The history of sleep research dates back to the date 1913 when a French scientist named

Henri Pieron created a book called “Le Probleme Physiologique du Sommeil.” This was the first

text to study sleep from a completely different angle. They were now looking at sleep form a
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phycological perspective. Father of American sleep research, Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman, began his

journey in the 1920’s in the city of Chicago. Kleitman actually studied the effects of sleep

deprivation and discovered the REM cycle of sleep. One of his students, Dr. William C. Dement,

discovered a correlation between REM sleep and dreaming in 1958. In Europe around 1965 H.

Gastau and his colleagues found sleep apnea in a subgroup of “Pickwickian” patients. Which

eventually lead to the study of sleep medicine. Today there is a little over 200 sleep disorders

centers and laboratories in the United States. However, the Stanford University Sleep Research

Center was made in 1970 by Dr. William C. Dement and it is the leading sleep research center in

the world. Because of all this progress and with the help of donors people now know that there is

about 84 sleep disorders that humans know of as of 1999, and that hasn’t changed yet.

Life would miss a certain meaning if humans didn’t have the ability to hold memories.

Sleep is extremely important when it comes to memorization because when people sleep their

brain is “processing information from the day and forming memories” (WebMD). Without

enough sleep the ability to retain information and remember life events becomes limited. For

example, this is why it’s important to get enough sleep when there is a test to take the next

morning. If one stays up all night and studies without getting any sleep, their brain won’t be able

to fully memorize and take in the information they are cramming in the night before. In order for

a memory to become a memory, three things must happen. First the acquisition, this is the

experience or new piece of information. Second is the consolidation, this is when the memory

becomes sure in the human’s brain. At last recall must occur and this is obviously the ability to

recall the memory in the future. Acquisition and recall happen when the person is lively or

awake, however consolidation is believed to happen during slumber. This is because sleep helps

the brain grip new information to later remember. Besides sleep being vital to properly retain
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information to recall later, it also affects reflexes, motor skills and even the human brain

judgment. A study was conducted, and the results showed that the subjects who were sleep

deprived were also the ones who thought they were right when they were actually wrong. It is

said that scientists are not exactly sure how sleep enhances the human brains ability to memorize,

nut it does have to do with the brain’s hippocampus and neocortex. In this part of the brain, short

term memories are reviewed and potentially become long term memories-depending on how

much sleep that person is getting. Scientists and researchers are still searching for more stages of

sleep that may lead to this discovery of the brains ability to memorize, but until the meantime

they have other evidence suggesting how sleep is important for the brain to function. This article

is from WebMD, and although it is known to be an accurate site, the article failed to give any

further details on the experiments they discussed. WebMD did not even provide a link to the

experiments. This source is still creditable, however in the future they should provide more

outside evidence with external links attached. In order to get enough sleep every night WebMD

suggests having a routine sleeping schedule, avoid caffeine, finish your last meal two or three

hours before bed and then give yourself time to unwind and let the brain relax. Another sleep tip

is to invest in a sound machine and avoid watching TV before bed.

By now, most people understand that their day isn’t the best when they didn’t get enough

sleep. Getting efficient sleep is crucial for human life experiences. Getting adequate sleep helps

your body recharge and rest after a long day; it also helps the human body to heal from a virus or

illness, this could be mental or physical. Lack of sleep can actually make one sick because it can

weaken immune systems, however getting enough sleep can help boost immune systems. Getting

efficient sleep can also help quicken a ill persons recovery. Losing sleep can cause weight gain.

According to the sleep foundation, “women who sleep five hours or less a night are 15 percent
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more likely to become obese during the next decade” (Sleep Foundation). Sleep deprivation

causes your body to misinterpret a lot of things, including how hungry one is. Losing sleep can

cause dark circles to from around and under the eyes. This is because fluid accumulates and

causes swelling. Losing sleep can also result in a paler complexion or causing one to be “looking

sick”. Sleep effects so much in the function human lives. Sleep deprivation can hurt human’s

health, physical appearance and even sex life or relationships. “In National Sleep Foundation’s

Sleep in America poll, about a third of women say they put sexual activity with their partner on

the back burner when they are sleep-deprived” (Sleep Foundation). This is because fatigue or

lack of sleep effect moods as well. Losing sleep doesn’t just effect someone’s significant other,

but anyone in their life. Moods and emotions show when interacting with other humans, and one

negative mood can create other negative moods.

Sleep is really important for weight loss. As we know, without the right amount of sleep,

it is possible to gain weight, however with it, it is much easier to lose weight. The amount of

sleep a human gets effects what kind of diet they will crave. According to Top Fitness, when a

person does not get enough sleep, their body produces too much leptin and ghrelin. Leptin and

ghrelin are hormones that create hunger. This shows that lack of sleep can eventually cause other

underlying health conditions like diabetes and heart failure or obesity. Loss of sleep leads to an

increased hunger for sugary foods that are not good for a human. Being sleep deprived will also

affect how much time is spent in the gym. The more sleep a person has the more motivated they

will feel to go workout. These are reasonable explanations as to sleep deprivation can lead to

weight gain, however there was no evidence in this article and not author was posted. This article

is not creditable because it lacked sources and only stated common sense facts. The only piece of
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information someone may learn from this article is the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which create

that hunger sensation.

Sleep is such an important function to a human’s body that even your brain knows it. If

one is deprived of sleep for a certain amount of time, they will fall into microsleep. Lawrence

Leung took part in an experiment where he would go 40 hours without sleep. Leung was going to

purposely deprive himself of sleep while doctors and scientists gave him tests and challenged

him to perform certain tasks testing his ocular sight, motor skills, reaction time and more. After

staying awake in the experimental lab, he will go to a bar and preform standup comedy jokes.

Will his lack of sleep effect his performance? Some of the challenges that Lawrence Leung

preformed involved driving, solving puzzles and even staring at a white dot on a black screen.

After staring at this white dot on a black screen twice before, Leung noticed it was slightly

bigger the third time. Or was it? Professor Shantha Rajaatnam states, “as the brain becomes more

sleep deprived, it craves distraction. It seeks stimuli to try and keep itself awake.” Which is

exactly why Lawrence Leung believed that the circle he had previously stared at before was

getting bigger, his brain was attempting to stay awake so Leung wouldn’t fall under microsleep.

In order for this distraction to occur, his brain is literally playing mind games with him,

attempting to keep his eyes open. About 19 hours into the experiment Leung experienced

microsleep. People can fall into microsleep and not even realize it; this only happens for a few

seconds and can even happen when the eyes are still open. Even though Leung was trying to stay

awake at all costs, he still went under without even realizing because his brain knows he needs

the rest. A little past the 30-hour mark of experiencing sleep deprivation, Leung starts crying.

This is because processing emotions and reacting to them become altered when sleep deprived.

After 40 hours without sleep Lawrence Leung went back the next day to get his results. He
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performed poorly when it came to attention and inhibition, which is kind of like the ability to

stop doing something. Professor Sean Drummond at Monash University at the end of the video

stated that even losing an hour of sleep for a couple days a week can affect someone just as it did

Lawrence Leung.

The reason that Lawrence Leung preformed so horribly when attempting to complete the

challenges he was given is because “sleep deprivation interferes with the ability of some brain

cells to function and communicate with one another.” This was found in a study by scientists at

UCLA. These very brain cells together tell Leung to stop (inhibition), just how big something is

and help him pay attention. Inhibition is just like reaction time, the amount of time it takes for a

human to process something is happening and then physically react to the event. Remember

when Lawrence had that little moment of feeling really emotional? According to scientists at

UCLA sleep deprivation disrupts levels of hormones. This may be the reason why Leung

randomly started crying when he was trying to keep himself awake for a long period of time.

Without getting adequate sleep, human’s emotions can get altered, usually in the negative way.

Sleep deprivation also affects one’s moods, their focus and their reaction time. A slower reaction

time and loss of focus is why Leung crashed his stimulated car in one of his challenges. After

Leung finished his experiment, he went to preform jokes at a bar, oddly enough he had a hard

time remembering them. This is because sleep is good for memorizing information. Lawrence

also felt very anxious during his performance, this happened because as stated before, his

emotions were altered. While most react to sleep deprivation in negative ways, some react in

more positive ways. Getting enough sleep is extremely important before a big test for example.

In my opinion if a woman did the same experiment that Leung did, she would show a lot more

signs of sleep deprivation. This is because women multitask and this takes more energy,
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therefore women need more sleep than men. Anyway, pertaining to this article, although Dr.

Michael Breus is a credible source, this article is two years old. Plus, he didn’t really give reason

to the information he provided, no solid reasons besides hearsay.

Sleep deprivation can affect all ages, yes including children, even babies. Getting the

right amount of sleep as a child, toddler, and even teen is very important because their brains are

still under development. Sleep deprivation can have a great effect on their performance and even

their mental health! A study was conducted on thirteen children, ages five to twelve years old.

Scientists compared the outcomes of a sleep schedule from 9PM compared to 2AM, both waking

up at the same time. In the results the researchers found that sleep deprivation “was linked with

some structural changes to the myelin sheath” (Bazian). The myelin sheath is a fatty coating on

nerve fibers that reach toward the back of the brain. Although the University of Colorado and

University Hospital Zurich researchers believed that the children’s sleep deprivation eventually

created deeper sleeping patterns towards the side and back of the brain. This means that sleep

deprivation may affect the developing brain. Although this experiment was presented Brazian

believes that this experiment only proves short term effects as well as the experiment not being

big enough, which is true they could’ve used more subjects. Either way, Brazian itself is an

uncreditable source because they disregard the experiment that University of Colorado and

University Hospital Zurich researchers found and form their own bias opinion, not even based on

the experiment present to them. It is also an old source from 2016. As stated before, sleep

deprivation does not just effect adults, it effects children too. Sleep is such a vital part of

children’s mental and physical health. Just like adults, it allows them to rest and recover. Without

resting and recovering, children will become extremely irritable, have trouble learning new

things, and it can even be connected to anxiety and depression in a child. Children who do get
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enough sleep are more creative and can focus longer, it helps them learn fast and improves their

memory, just as it does in adults. It is important to know when a child is sleep deprived because

it is not always noticeable, there is not always those physical signs. Watching change in behavior

or noticing the child is becoming sick more often. Another sign a human may watch for is having

a hard time falling asleep and waking in the morning. The amount of sleep needed for every

human being depends on their age. For example, newborns need eighteen hours while school

aged children need ten to twelve hours. Fourteen to eighteen-year old’s need eight to ten hours.

The older one becomes the less sleep is needed because their brains are not developing as much

so they do not necessarily need all the functions, the brain teaches itself over time in a way and

becomes more advanced. Although no matter the age of any human, sleep effects the way their

brain functions and it is important for every human to attain a healthy sleep schedule.

Although the Brazian article believes that sleep deprivation doesn’t affect one’s mental

health, Harvard Health Publishing believes that mental health and sleep are very connected.

Unlike Brazian, Harvard Health hits their audience with statistical facts from outside sources.

Those who have mental disorders are 80% more likely to have sleep insomnia or other sleep

related problems, compared to the average 10% to 18% of adults who do have sleep problems

with no mental health disorders. “Traditionally, clinicians treating patients with psychiatric

disorders have viewed insomnia and other sleep disorders as symptoms” (Harvard Health)

However, recent studies in bother children and adults show that sleep problems may increase risk

or contribute to some psychiatric disorders. This research has clinical application, because

treating a sleep disorder helps get rid of some symptoms of some psychiatric disorders. While

conducting a sleep study, scientists have discovered that disruption in sleep affects

neurotransmitters and stress hormones during the REM cycle. This means that it impairs thinking
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and emotional regulation, which causes insomnia to worsen the effects of psychiatric disorders.

There are roughly seventy different sleep disorder conditions. Depression is the most common

mental disorder with estimates of 65% to 90% of adult patients and 90% of children patients with

this condition have some type of sleeping problem. Multiple studies have been done to prove that

sleep disorders come before any mental disorder or psychiatric disorder. A study was done on

roughly 1,000 adults aged 21 to 30 years in. They were all enrolled in a Michigan health

maintenance organization. “Compared to normal sleepers, those who reported a history of

insomnia during an interview in 1989 were four times as likely to develop major depression by

the time of a second interview three years later. And two longitudinal studies in young people —

one involving 300 pairs of young twins, and another including 1,014 teenagers” (Harvard

Health) These researchers discovered with these results, that sleep problems developed before

their major depression did. Sleep deprivation does effect human’s mental health. Losing sleep or

experiencing a disruption in sleep is linked to also disrupting all sorts of neurotransmitters and

happy hormones in the human brain.

Sleep is such an important function to the human brain, that not getting enough of it on a

regular, healthy basis, can cause premature death. Heart attacks and strokes are America’s

leading cause of death. People with high blood pressure and diabetes are most at risk for heart

attacks and stokes. Sleep deprivation is actually linked to these top two causes of death. If one

suffers from diabetes or high blood pressure, they “are more than twice as likely to die from

these cardiovascular events when they sleep less than six hours a night” (Rapaport) Getting

efficient sleep can actually prolong these patients lives. According to the same Doctor, once

people have already experienced underlying health conditions, such as a heart attack or stroke,

they are three times more likely to die from cancer when they sleep less than their recommended
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time of sleep. On the bright side of this, humans who get less than six hours of sleep are not at an

increased risk of a premature death from cancer. Anyway, Doctor Julio Fernandez who is a sleep

psychologist at the Sleep Research and Treatment Center of the Penn State Health Milton S.

Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania believes that their studies shows that getting

normal sleep could be very protective to some people with diabetes, high blood pressure and

other underlying conditions. Getting enough sleep will definitely help prevent one form dying

prematurely, but it will also hurt them if they don’t. “Too little sleep suppresses our immune

system and places our body in a state of heightened alertness for stressful events like a fight-or-

flight mode,” explains Dr. St-Onge. Knowing sleep causes mental health disorders, it’s not

surprising that lack of it causes stress and hurts our immune system as well. Sleep is extremely

important to life; sleep deprivation can even lead to an early death.

Sleep is an important function of the human life. It effects the brain and the brain effects

people’s performance, their mental health, and without rest, lack of sleep can lead to a premature

death. It is important to get enough sleep every week because when sleep deprived, affects

similar to those of Lawrence Leung will arise. Sleep deprivation weakens the brains ability to

remember events. It also slows down human’s reaction times and motor skills. Loss of sleep also

clouds human’s judgment. There is scientific data that supports the claim of lack of sleep being

the cause of depression. It’s important to start getting efficient sleep now because sleep

deprivation effects all ages and it is important to know what the amount of sleep each age group

needs. Sleep deprivation affects the development of adolescents and teens brains. It affects the

mental health of children and adults, both sexes. Every human brain is impacted by sleep

deprivation from start to finish. It is important to get enough sleep because sleep deprivation

disables the human brain from functioning properly.

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Work Cited

Bazian. “Lack of Sleep May Disrupt Development of a Child's Brain.” NHS. 18 Feb. 2020,

www.nhs.uk/news/neurology/lack-of-sleep-may-disrupt-development-of-a-childs-brain/.

Breus, Michael. “Here's Why You Can't Think Straight When You're Sleep Deprived.” Your Guide to

Better Sleep, Sleep Doctor, 17 Apr. 2018, thesleepdoctor.com/2018/04/17/heres-why-you-cant-

think-straight-when-youre-sleep-deprived/.

Dr Sarkissian, Carol. “Sleep Deprivation and Memory Loss.” WebMD, WebMD, 7 Aug. 2019,

www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effects-on-memory#1.

Harvard Health Publishing. “Sleep and Mental Health.” Harvard Health, Harvard Health Publishing, 18

Mar. 2019, www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health.

Leung, Lawrence, director. What Are the Consequences Of Sleep Deprivation?Youtube, ABC Science, 2

Mar. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_irU28cajj4.

“The Result of Missing a Night of Sleep.” National Sleep Foundation, 2020,

www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/your-body-no-sleep.

“The Sleep Well.” A Brief History of Sleep Research, Dr. William C Dement, 3 Feb. 1999,

web.stanford.edu/~dement/history.html.

Rapaport, Lisa. “Lack of Sleep May Lead to Early Death, Study Finds: Everyday Health.” Everyday

Health, Heart Health, 8 Oct. 2019, www.everydayhealth.com/heart-health/lack-sleep-may-lead-

early-death-study-finds/.

“Why Sleep Is Important for Weight Loss.” Top Fitness Magazine, 28 Oct. 2016,

www.topfitnessmag.com/lifestyle/sleep-important-weight-loss/.
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