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Gracee Spatz

Prof. Reynolds

English 1202

March 20th, 2022

The Importance Of Sleep On Teenager’s Mental and Physical Health

BEEP BEEP BEEP! Everyone is familiar with the sound of their alarm clock in the

morning. That dreadful feeling of waking up after an unsuccessful night of sleep. Each day it

becomes harder and harder to wake up. Now imagine waking up in the mornings needing 9-10

hours of sleep while only getting 5-6 hours a night. This is the reality for many teenagers, ages

14-19 all around the world. Sleep has a direct relationship with young adults' physical and

mental health. Lack of sleep results in many negative effects on teenagers, including car crashes,

school work and grades diminishing, depression and anxiety increasing, and there is an increase

in obesity and mental cognitive defects.

Sleep is a topic that I have heard about a lot. Whether it is from my parents, my

psychology teacher, or my boss, most people in my life are telling me I need more sleep. They

weren’t kidding when they said junior year is difficult. I was taking two AP classes, playing two

varsity sports, being involved in numerous clubs, studying for the ACT, as well as starting my

first job. I had my hands full when dealing with junior year. Balancing and organizing all of these

things into my busy schedule was quite impossible. Something had to give way, something had

to be sacrificed. Unfortunately, this thing was asleep. Sleep was something that was affordable to

give up, or so I thought. Each night junior year I did not go to bed before 12 AM. Each day my

focus diminished, my head was foggy and my test scores fell. This continued up until my last AP

test day. Once summer came, I started to get more and more sleep. I could feel my brain
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becoming mine again, I regained my focus and I became less irritable. This is when I learned

first-hand the importance of sleep. This essay will help me inform others of my past mistakes

and hopefully let others not repeat them.

The importance of sleep has been a very important issue in today's world. Concern about

this topic has been on the rise in recent years. Problems dealing with teenagers' sleep started in

1975 when researchers recruited young adults for a sleep study. The results were as you grow

you need more sleep, a lot of sleep in the teenage years, then you need less and less after. More

research concluded that teenagers need sleep to help them develop their growing bodies and

minds. Once teenagers have grown completely, they do not need as much sleep. By the early

1990s, the “sleep phase delay” took the world by storm (Richter, 6). Scientists discovered that it

was prone for teenagers to sleep later than their younger siblings. Considering how this group

had to go to school even earlier than their siblings, their biological sleep alarm, known as the

circadian rhythm, was offset. This sleep issue in teenagers increased when new technologies

were introduced in the world. The worldwide web, youtube, and social media have had a great

impact on teenagers' sleep. Things such as hand-held cell phones have created distractions for

teenagers and they have been going to bed later and later. Technology has reduced sleep appeal

for young adults greatly in recent years as it has evolved.

First of all, when teenagers do not receive an adequate amount of sleep, their school work

decreases in value. When teenagers are sleep deprived their focus, attention and vigilance

diminish. This makes it extremely difficult for teenagers to learn in a controlled environment.

Their neurons are overworked because they did not have enough sleep to recharge them

(Stickgold 13). When this happens, these neurons can no longer coordinate with other neurons to

store information. Then, the ability to access this newly learned information is gone. In addition
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to this information, when young students get less than 6 hours of sleep the amount of time their

brain goes into REM (rapid eye movement) sleep decreases. During this phase of the sleep cycle,

short-term memories are converted to long-term memories (Lukowski 7). This means that

information learned in class today will not be transferred into their brain for a longer period of

time, so it will be harder for them to remember facts they just learned. This will cause them to

perform at a lower rate than students who get more than eight hours of sleep. Generally speaking,

fewer hours of sleep results in a lack of school performance.

Fig 1. This infographic shows some statistics for teenagers who do not get enough sleep. These

are the studies done with millions of students across the country and most results trend the same

way. This infographic displays how not getting enough sleep affects students' school work.

(Brent Heard).
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In addition to these points, a lack of sleep causes fatigue in young adults. Sleep is just as

important as food and water for the human body. Insufficient sleep causes disruptions in the

sleep cycle which affects how we function during the day. This lack of sleep causes fatigue.

Fatigue is defined by extreme tiredness resulting from mental exertion or illness(Fallone 2). This

compares a lack of sleep to illness because how the body performs after not enough sleep is like

the body is sick. Not only can you get sick from a lack of sleep, but the symptoms you

experience from sleep loss can give you weak physical features. Fatigue is a serious issue that

can cause something much more dangerous than sleep sickness; car crashes. Lack of sleep can

raise the rate of teenage car crashes a significant amount (Fallone 7). Fatigue plays a big role in

this, the weak and tiredness students feel from a lack of sleep contributes to slow reaction times

and little focus on the road. Not only is little sleep dangerous, but also causes symptoms of

sickness.

In addition to the physical symptoms listed above, the physical toll sleep deprivation

causes on young athletes can diminish their performance in sports. Sports can be a big part of

teenagers’ lives. From 2-3 hour long practices to 5-6 hour game days, sleep is something

student-athletes know very little. If student athletes' schedules prevent them from getting an

adequate amount of sleep, then their performance in their sports is directly affected by that lack.

When athletes train and practice, their muscle tissue deteriorates so they can be built back

stronger. This tissue is rebuilt when you sleep, “allowing your heart to rest and cells and tissue to

repair” (Fry 2). This tissue cannot be rebuilt if the athlete does not get an adequate amount of

sleep. Then the athlete does not have a good amount of time to recover which will result in bad

athletic performance. To bring back the points mentioned above, sleep prevents illness by
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allowing the body to rest. If athletes can prevent illness in every way possible they have a greater

opportunity to practice their sport.

Second of all, sleep deprivation can cause mental health issues. One big issue leading in

teens and young adults today is depression. Depression occurs commonly among teenagers and

could be affected by their growing and changing minds. If their normal body functions cannot be

performed when sleeping this makes the factor of teenagers getting depression more potent.

According to Fulghum Bruce, “Depression is often defined as making you feel sad, hopeless,

worthless and helpless (6). During my junior year when I was having multiple nights of little

sleep, I often felt hopeless and worthless. It felt like if I could not get everything I needed to do

before I got to sleep I did not feel accomplished. When you do not get enough sleep your energy

and motivation decrease. These Symptoms contribute directly to depression. If your brain cannot

process the emotional toll the day has on you. There is also a factor of growth and hormones

produced during puberty affect the teenage brain (Stenson 3). If teenagers are already struggling

with mental issues, adding a lack of sleep to their struggles will cause them to be more

challenged.

In addition to depression, a lack of sleep can cause anxiety. Anxiety mainly has to deal

with worrying. Teenagers are prone to worry. They worry about what outfit they will wear to

school, if the person they like likes them back, how well they did on the test, and most

importantly their future. These things may seem futile but at the moment these are the most

important things in their lives. These things mentioned can cause stress and anxiety in teenagers'

lives but if teenagers do not get enough sleep to process these things that can increase their

stress. A researcher from WedMD concludes “A lack of sleep can affect mood and emotional

health which may exacerbate the challenges posed by anxiety disorders” (Fulghum Bruce 5).
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Teenagers have not learned to process their emotions efficiently yet. These emotions are

normally processed when they sleep. When teenagers don't get enough sleep they not only worry

about the things going on in their lives, but they also worry about not getting enough sleep. This

worry can drag out their sleep even further, and now they are worried about falling asleep and

staying asleep. All things considered, sleep loss can cause a ripple effect of worry, emotional

trauma, and anxiety.

With this in mind, another important sleep disorder that comes from sleep loss is

insomnia. Insomnia can be described as having difficulty falling asleep, being unable to go back

to sleep, or waking frequently throughout the night (Fulghum Bruce 8). Having trouble staying

asleep can alter your function during the day. Not getting a good amount of sleep at night will

cause teens to feel drowsy in the morning, and teenagers might fall asleep in class. This will also

affect their school work in a negative way if they are not awake to learn the material in the first

place. Having feelings of sadness, guilt or hopelessness may also contribute to interrupts in

sleep. Insomnia can also be caused by your mind in overdrive, ruminating over situations you

have little control over (Fulghum Bruce 9). Insomnia is a big problem in the world of sleep today

and when insomnia starts as early as teenagers, it can affect their future.

Third of all, lack of sleep can cause problems in teenagers' relationships. Starting with

their friends, a lack of sleep can cause teenagers to be irritable. Teenagers' mood swings are

unpredictable and bad as it is, now they do not have sleep leaving them rested and refreshed to

start the day. They can take all of their emotions and problems from yesterday with them, and

unresolved conflicts can be waiting for them. Sleep-deprived, teenagers are “...more likely to

overreact to situations that normally wouldn't rattle them” (Fry 3). Teenagers will be more likely

to hold grudges, get in fights and create problems for their friends when they have a lack of
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patience due to a lack of sleep. More conflict can lead to less meaningful relationships, normally

relationships that would last for the rest of their lives. Sleep affects the friendships and

relationships that teenagers need to grow and learn throughout high school.

To continue, another form of relationship that is affected by a lack of sleep is the parental

relationship. Teenagers are already irritable as it is and without sleep, they can be nightmares.

When teenagers are sleep deprived their “amygdala, the part of the brain that ties into emotions,

doesn’t function properly” (Fulghum Bruce 6). The amygdala controls how many

neurotransmitters are produced in the brain. A teenage brain has not learned to control how many

come out at once. This can throw off emotions. If a brain is sleep-deprived, the brain cannot

readily control its emotions. This can cause teenagers to snap back at their parents and get them

in trouble. Parents, or anyone, do not want to be around an irritable kid. This can diminish the

relationship between parent and child and make it harder for them to resolve conflicts in the

future. Sleep loss can trigger unnecessary emotions resulting in unnecessary conflict, which can

diminish the value of their relationships.

On the contrary, some people say that teenagers' brains are meant for little sleep.

According to Anglea Lukowski and her role in studying sleep in teenage students, she found that

young adults are used to staying up late. Lukowski saw that melatonin in teenagers is starting to

get produced at 10 pm in their brains and does not stop until 8 am (3). Many teenagers have days

that end much longer than 10 pm, however, their body is just starting to shut them down, so they

could be up for hours more. Also, this lack of sleep could improve relationships among friends.

If everyone you talk to is up at the same time, then can’t you just build relationships then?

“These findings seem intuitive as an adolescent and young adults who endorse greater levels of

sociability might spend more time engaging with friends in the evening hours” (Lukowski 4).
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Just because teenagers are not getting sleep, does not mean they aren’t doing anything. Many

teens will be up conversing with friends, who they will also talk to tomorrow, so this lack of

sleep could actually build their friendships. Even so, these relationships that are being built at a

late hour might not even be remembered since memories formed cannot be converted into

long-term memories with sleep. Also, the many downsides of sleep loss outweigh the potential

benefit of their nightly friendships or how they will naturally stay up late. Talking to friends late

at night can also cause insomnia by being on their phones and engaged in exciting activities that

stimulate the brain and makes it even harder for them to go to sleep. To add on, if teenagers

would be asleep at this late hour then they would be less irritable in the mornings when they can

make live, in-person relationships with their friends. To finish, there are some things that make

sense about teenage sleep loss, however, it is never enough to argue against a good amount of

sleep.

In addition, others say that because of the effect of coffee on teenagers, they perceive

sleep as less of a necessity. It is known that popular coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin have

become a major factor in teenagers' lives and most have put them into their daily routine. Does

coffee really bring more positive factors to teenagers' brains than just energy? Amy Francis, a

writer for the website Caffeine claims “Caffeine use has been shown through multiple studies to

improve visual attention, help sustain focus, and improve reaction time” (Francis 2). This

improved reaction time coffee gives teenagers could help reduce accidents on the way to school.

Students who drink coffee will also, focus more and will be more ready to learn in their classes.

Though coffee does have numerous benefits, it can never replace what mother nature intended as

natural refueling: sleep. When people get enough sleep on a daily basis they start to lose the need

for coffee, which will improve their overall performance when awake. Sleep provides you with
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alertness, improves focus, leaves you feeling refreshed, and lets your brain re-charge to process

the events of the day. The moral of the story is: that nothing can replace sleep.

In conclusion, teenagers who receive an adequate amount of sleep at night will suffer less

from depression and anxiety, form deeper more meaningful relationships with their friends and

parents and will feel less fatigue, and perform better during their sports. Sleep is a touchy subject

for many people and chances are, you did not get enough sleep before reading this paper. So next

time you go on your phone late at night instead of falling asleep, think about all the side effects

you could be causing your brain.

Works Cited

Brent Heard | Nov 18, 2013. “Lack of Sleep Hurts Student Health.” The Tartan, 18 Nov. 2013,
https://thetartan.org/2013/11/18/news/sleep.

Bruce, Debra Fulghum. “Sleep Deprivation and Depression: What's the Link?” WebMD,
WebMD, June 2021, https://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-sleep-disorder.

"Caffeine Improves Cognitive Performance." Caffeine, edited by Amy Francis, Greenhaven

Colosimo, Pamela. "Learning after sleep loss." Nature Genetics, vol. 42, no. 10, Oct. 2010, p.
825. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A238833228/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=11fe
3a5a. Accessed 6 Mar. 2022.

Fry, Alexa. “How Sleep Affects Athletic Performance.” Sleep Foundation, 11 Mar. 2022,
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-activity/athletic-performance-and-sleep.

Lukowski, Angela F., and Dmitry Tsukerman. "Temperament, sleep quality, and insomnia
severity in university students: Examining the mediating and moderating role of sleep
hygiene." PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no. 7, 15 July 2021, p. e0251557. Gale In Context: Opposing
Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A668604090/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=45f7
5ceb. Accessed 6 Mar. 2022.

Ruthann, Ritcher. “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation is an Epidemic.” News Center, 8 Oct. 2015,
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-deprivation-an-epidemi
c.html.
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“Sleep Deprivation.” Sleep Deprivation - Better Health Channel, 2021,

“Sleep, Learning, and Memory.” Stickgold. Sleep, Learning, and Memory | Healthy Sleep, Dec.
2003,
https://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory.

Stenson, Anthony R., et al. "Total sleep deprivation reduces top-down regulation of emotion
without altering bottom-up affective processing." PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no. 9, 2 Sept. 2021, p.
e0256983. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A674089479/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=a87
14fb3. Accessed 6 Mar. 2022.