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Linus Kennedy

English 1201

Professor Echols

10/24/2021

Literature Review

My research question is “Why is Sleep Important for Teenagers and Why do they Stuggle

to Get the Recommended Ammount?’. My goal is to find out why biologically, sleep is

important for kids my age and what it does for the body and how getting a good amount benifits

me. I also want to go into why teens struggle to get the correct amount of sleep. This is just

personally interesting to me because I struggle with getting adequate amounts of sleep

sometimes and I know other teenagers do as well.

“Sleep is vital for people of any age. For teens, though, profound mental, physical, social,

and emotional development requires quality sleep” (Sunl). That quote from the article Sleep and

Teens really helps ilustraite that sleep is very important for teens. In the same article it discusses

how the recommended ammount of sleep for teengers is 8-10 hours of sleep per night. However

acording to data from national surveys from 2007-2013, 69% of teenagers report that they get

less than seven hours of sleep each night.

A Gale database source said very similar things: “A recent report from the National Sleep

Foundation estimates the actual amount of sleep experienced by the average 19-year-old to be

about 7 hours a night”(Gale). Having two reliable sources align like this really proves that teens
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really are struggling to get optimal amounts of sleep. These sources goal is to point out a

problem that is happening with teens and inform the reader of the effects it can have on them and

why it is happening.

When Your 200 Month Old Can’t Sleep Though the Night, is an artice in the New York

Times about adolecents struggling ot get sleep. It goes into how sleep deprivation can effect

teens saying “Chronic sleep deprivation can be caused by depression or anxiety, but it can also

put kids at risk for depression and anxiety, as well as for obesity and diabetes. And more

immediately, it can mean that teenagers are not performing at their best, whether academically,

in sports or behind the wheel of a car” (Perri Klass, M.D.). This source goes into more of the

effects of children and teenagers not getting enough sleep as well as statistics about their lack of

sleep. The fact that it is written by a pediatrician gives it a lot of credibility and it reall goes in

depth on the effects of sleep deprivation.

The article titled Teens and Sleep: The Cost of Sleep Deprivation goes into a lot of detail

about the risks faces when deprived of sleep. It was almost comparble to an article written about

what intoxication can lead to. “55% of all “fall-asleep” crashes were caused by drivers under the

age of 25. Parents shouldn’t let sleep deprived adolescents get behind the wheel anymore than

they would if their kid had been drinking”(Garey). Comparatively the article Sleep Deprivation

by Marcia Clemmitt says “People who work long hours and young people, especially young

men, are the most likely to cause drowsy-driving accidents. Seventy-eight percent of drivers in

drowsy-driving accidents are male, and 55 percent are 25 or younger”(Clemmitt). This shows

that these reliable sources say very similar things about the effects of sleep deprivation.
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When pondering the question of why sleep is important for teenagers the sources have

some excellents points. Sleep is important for teens because it imporves their mental health,

makes them less prone to accidents, improves their attitude, and much more. When you look at

why teens struggle to get sleep there are several different answers as well. One could simply be

that their bodies release malatonin much later than in adults. Another answer could be

technology keeping them up late at night.

In order to get really good answers about why we need sleep biologically, I will probably

watch some informational videos about how sleep effects us biologically. I also would like to

look at more statistics about how much sleep children are actually getting and what that is

attributed to. Overall I think most of the sources I have now are really informative and I have

already learned a lot from them. I just look forward to getting more in depth information. I am

actually pretty excited to learn more about sleep problems for teens because it related to my life a

lot.
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Work Cited

Garey, Juliann. “Teens and Sleep: The Cost of Sleep Deprivation.” Child Mind Institute,

Child Mind Institute, Inc, 25 Aug. 2021, childmind.org/article/happens-teenagers-dont-

get-enough-sleep/.

Klass, Perri. “When Your 200-Month-Old Can’t Sleep Through the Night.” New York

Times, 28 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/well/family/teenagers-sleep-

insomnia.html.

Oliver, Mike. “An Eyes Open Approach to Teen Sleep Problems.” Future Directions in

Well-Being: Education, Organizations and Policy., edited by Mathew A. White et al.,

Springer International Publishing, 2017, pp. 191–195. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/978-3-

319-56889-8_33.

Sunl, Eric. “Sleep for Teenagers.” Sleep Foundation, OneCare Media, LLC, 5 Aug. 2020,

www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep. Accessed 17 Oct. 2021.

“Teen Problems Linked to Deprivation of Sleep.” Nation’s Health, vol. 29, no. 10, Nov.

1999, p. 12. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=hxh&AN=2469160&site=ehost-live. Date Accessed 17 Oct. 2021.

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