Jagielo 1

Eric Jagielo

Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin

First Year Composition

2 December 2010

Sleep Deprivation: Proposed Solutions to Solve The Rising Problem

(Walters). Sleep deprivation effects almost any age group but it has mainly been a problem with

high school and college students. There is not one leading factor to this problem but one

conclusion that is rising is the technology that students are surrounded with causes late nights.

Some examples of these different technology that college kids are currently using are; internet,

cell phones, video game systems, laptops, social media networking websites and personal music

producing. The students and student-athletes have all the pressure to perform both in school and

on the field, but also have the responsibility to not let technology take them away from one of the

most important factors of performance; sleep.

There are many reasons why sleep deprivation is a problem some negative consequences

are shown throughout the book of Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria which explains, “The statistical

analysis examined the following mood/affective changes related to sleep deprivation: alertness,

satisfied, sleepy, active, depressive, talkative, headache, upset stomach, lazy and irritable” (164).

These specific ideas that are affected by sleep deprivation prove Pamela Thacher’s argument

about sleep deprivation. She strongly believes that, “You can’t do your best work when you’re

sleep-deprived” (Yahalom). She has done studies with college level students to see how sleep

has affected their performance in school. The results of the studies have shown that there was a

direct correlation with a student’s grades and their grade point average. Students believe that

staying up studying will help them remember things for the test but in a study that was not the
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case, “Evidence for sleep loss leading to performance lapsing, cognitive slowing, memore

problems, time-on-task decrements, and optimum response shifts is viewed” (Monk). Not only

is the sleep deprivation affecting the way students learning but also physically and mentally it’s

just not good for them. The student-athletes go through school and then also the requirements

the coach makes them do whether its working out, eating correctly or practicing more, no one

says anything about sleep. Cheri Mah a Stanford grad-researcher says, “It’s not common

knowledge, because if people understood how much of a difference (getting more sleep) could

make athletically, they’d incorporate it more into their lives and not solely focus on nutrition and

exercise” (Yahalom). The little things sleep could make to improve an athlete’s game may

sound unnecessary but to be a little quicker and more accurate when shooting or throwing could

change a game completely. Some can argue that no solution can help the rising problem of sleep

deprivation, but after doing some research some proposed solutions to this problem are: looking

at other countries with addiction problems to technology and see how they deal with it,

informing college students and athletes by having a doctor come in and talk at a college

orientation about the problem and lastly the university cutting all internet or power access at a

certain time of the day.

Sleep deprivation and how the evolution of technology has caused it to increase has come

to my attention due to experiencing some of the same effects that have been researched. My

parents have always stressed that a good night of sleep is very important but as a teenager; I felt

a right to stay up late and feel like I could perform at a high level throughout the next day with

minimal hours of sleep. Multiple times I have found myself staying up later than usual do to

facebook or not being able to end a conversation with a friend via texting. This has caused loss

of sleep and has affected the way I train as an athlete and performed in the competition. The
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next day I have tried to catch up with sleep by taking multiple naps during the day but then I felt

very lethargic not being able to exert as much energy needed to perform at my highest level. Not

only in athletics but I have felt less productive the next day in the classroom when I do not

receive the proper amount of sleep. This research is not only informing me but other college

students and athletes to try helping them get the best of their ability.

The first proposed solution has to deal with looking into how technology causes an

addiction to a person, which does not allow them to keep their priorities straight and get caught

up wasting time on such activities. From this idea of an addiction to technology one country,

which has an uprising problem with addiction to Internet, is Korea. Looking at how they deal

with this addiction is a way that we could possibly use here in the United States try showing

students how to get through life with as little technology needed. In Korea a video was filmed

called A Digital Nation which goes through different lives of parents in families that are dealing

with their children being brought up in a technology savvy generation. This film then goes to a

camp which parents can send their children too. At the camp they go through activities of

showing how to play and introducing new games, which these kids can go out and play instead

of video games or surfing the Internet when they get back to their hometown. This can relate to

college level students by putting them through a required clinic or class to teach about time

management skills. These time management skills can go from setting up a planner for their day

allowing them to have some type of free time and time where they can work strictly on their

work. With this class about time management this will allow students to plan out their day and

not have to stay up one night cramming for that test or pulling an all nighters in order to finish a

paper or assignment. Even though this is a realistic idea some universities may not want to use
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this because they need someone to teach it which causes money and parents would not want to

spend money on a class that their son or daughter may or may not need.

The next idea for a solution is at student orientation. Every freshman or transfer student

that comes to a new university is required to go to orientation to learn about the school. The

presenters go through various topics about housing, classes, and security on the campus. The

next proposed solution could be brought into effect by having one more person talk at these

orientations. This last person talking can be a doctor, which he or she can bring up the topic of

how much sleep can affect one. The doctor can explain the facts of the book, which was referred

earlier. All of negative consequences for sleep deprivation can be brought up and explain why

each one of these can negatively impact their lives and not just make them tired. Even though

some may tune out and decide not to listen to the speaker it may stick with some people and

teach them about a topic that is not brought up a lot but can positively affect ones career by

doing a simple task of sleeping.

The last idea for a solution to help students deal with technology or Internet addiction

causing them to miss out on sleep is basically a curfew for Internet and technology. A university

can determine that at a certain point of the night they will cut off the Internet access or cut the

power to dorms. This will force students to not only manage their time wisely and do their

assignments earlier in the day but also make them go to sleep earlier. There will be no more

chance for them to stay up skyping a friend or surfing the web the whole idea of that will be

wiped out. Many students use time at night to either finish homework or play video games, one

study at a university shows, “About 41 percent of gamers play after 9 p.m. while only 8 percent

report that they play before noon” (Weaver). This will cut out those late night sessions whether

it’s on the playing games on the Internet or using whatever technology keeps them up in general.
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This solution is the best for multiple reasons; the first is the teaching that takes place

when the university cuts the power. Unlike having to pay some one to teach the students about

the use of a planner and time management this forces students to use it. If they do not use time

management there is no way they will finish what they need to on time which will directly affect

their grades. Another good reason for this solution is the fact that if it cuts energy to the specific

places it will be a lot cheaper for these universities to run. This might allow university to not

make students pay as much to go to the school and on top of that they not being sleep deprived

which will physically and mentally help them out in the long run.

On the other hand some may argue that all these solutions will not work with college

level students. It may be to expensive to have every college have a specialist or doctor come into

the orientation and talk about sleep deprivation and the negative consequences. They can also

say that students will not pay attention to the doctor because that what college is a part of their

life when they are free to do whatever. Others may argue that looking at a different country will

no help because they live differently than us and that is dealing with people not at the same age

group. From looking into the other countries for ideas and having the students go to a class will

only cause them to skip the class or not take it seriously enough to have any affect on the

individuals. Lastly, people will have a problem with having the university cut the power of

dorms or shutting down libraries and other study places for many reasons. Some may say it’s a

safety hazard or not morally correct for not having technology be available. They feel it is a

right to be able to use whatever they want to use freely without someone else dictating when and

when they cannot use it. Also some may say how are they supposed to charge certain devices

they need through out the next day such as cell phones, lap tops, etc. All of these reasons against

these solutions have to come in conversation when the university is deciding what to do.
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Even though some may make all those arguments about the proposed solutions it is a fact

that they need to start in some way changing the problem of sleep deprivation within universities

students and their athletes. Whether its having someone come into the orientation and talking,

learning about other countries and how they are dealing with similar events then creating a clinic

or class to require the students to take or shutting down all power and internet usage to the

university; there needs to be some change to help the problem. Sleep is shown in the research

that it is one of the most important things. It is arguable that sleep is needed to the same extent

as food and exercise for a student to perform at his or her highest ability each day in the

classroom. Not only is the sleep and health of the students suffering but ones grades, GPA’s and

test scores are affected. When it comes to student-athletes they have all the same things

suffering for them but on top of that so is their performance in the sport, which affects the overall

team. Each of the studies shown that the ability of the athlete is not the same when they are fully

rested and when they are sleep deprived. Some of the students and student-athletes are on

scholarship which means the school is helping them pay for their education. In other terms all

these people have to pay the school back by giving their best effort in the sport, in academics, or

in both. This is a thing that needs to be brought up to people across the country and world to

help people out. Each student has the responsibility to use technology for its right purpose and to

not abuse it so the things that matter in their lives do not get affected and they can perform at

their highest level that’s why one of these solutions can help change a persons career both

academically or athletically by just learning about the benefits of sleep.

Works Cited

"Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria." SciElo Brazil. N.p., June 2006. Web. 23 Oct.

     2010.

Carskadon, Mary. "Lack of Sleep Can Affect Athletic Performance In Teens."

     Science Daily. N.p., 11 May 2005. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

Carter, Dennis. "Are today's students addicted to social media?" eCampus News.

     N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http:/http://www.ecampusnews.com/

     technologies/are-todays-students-addicted-to-social-media/>.

Jang, Keum Seong, Seon Young Hwang, and Ja Yun Choi. "Internet Addiction and

     Psychiatric Symptoms Among Korean Adolescents." Health & Wellness Resource

     Center. N.p., Mar. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

Monk, Timothy H. Sleep, Sleepiness and Performane. Chichester: John Wiley &

     Sons, 1991. Print.

Walters, Peter. "Sleep, the Athlete, and Performance." Strength and Conditioning

     Journal. N.p., Apr. 2002. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http:/

     http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/2002/04000/

     Sleep,_the_Athlete,_and_Performance.5.aspx>.

Weaver, J ane. "College Students are avid gamers." msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2

     Dec. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078424/ns/

     technology_and_science-games/>.

Yahalom, Tall. "College Students' Performance Suffers From Lack Of Sleep."

     USA Today. N.p., 17 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.