Research Paper Sleep
Research Paper Sleep
Research Paper Sleep
Mary Brown
Professor Leonard
English 2V3
1 April 2021
School or Sleep?
If you had the ability to help someone overcome or possibly completely avoid mental and
physical illnesses, would you? Society’s expectations for the average adolescent--including: the
early start time of most high schools, homework load, expected extracurricular engagement, and
working a part time job--result in the reality that most adolescents are significantly sleep
deprived. The lack of sleep brought on by these aforementioned commitments can result in
increased substance abuse, mental illnesses, overall poor academic performance, diabetes,
obesity and even untimely death among adolescents. The main contributor to sleep deprived
Since school starting times contribute largely to the lack of sleep in adolescents,
understanding the reasoning behind the early start is crucial. Originally, students of all ages
attended school together and they all learned in the same room. Because of this, the classes for
every age started at the same time. As the separation of ages into grades became increasingly
common around the 1930’s, staggering the start times for school also became normalized. It was
decided that the older children (adolescents) would begin school earlier than the younger
children. The thought was that those in their teen years would start the earliest in an effort to
prepare them for adult life. In addition to that, adolescents were seen as more mature and
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therefore waking up earlier would not be a problem for them. In recent years, however, evidence
has come to light about the ways this negatively affects adolescents (Wahlstrom).
waking up early can be to their development. Adolescents’ bodies require nine or more hours of
sleep per night for full development both mentally and physically, and yet around 85% of
adolescents receive less than eight hours of sleep per night. An estimated 23.8% of adolescents
suffer from insomnia (Suni) which is a sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling and/or
staying asleep (Ratini). There are multiple reasons behind the lack of sleep adolescents receive.
Despite the common theory of them being lazy and unmotivated, teens are biologically
hardwired to go to bed later and wake up later due to their melatonin secretion. Melatonin
secretion provides a circadian and seasonal signal to the organisms in vertebrates. Melatonin is
produced from serotonin (made from tryptophan), through a cascade of enzymatic reactions
(Masters). While adults and pre-teen’s melatonin secretion varies and is flexible, adolescent’s
melatonin secretion is stricter. In a typical adolescent, the body does not secrete melatonin until
10:45 p.m. at the earliest and the body finishes secreting melatonin at around 8:00 a.m. The
cause for this is mainly puberty and the teen years being major years in development
(McNamara).
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Fig. 1: This graph depicts the percentage of depression in each age group. Ages 16-21 have the
greatest percentage over all while ages 22-25 seem to be rapidly increasing (Brueck).
Lack of sleep influences every aspect of an adolescent’s lives. Sleep deprived adolescents
are more likely to have depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Most research points to what
current data) can cause mental disorders, and mental disorders make it harder to sleep. This
brings about a circular arrangement where ‘A’ causes ‘B’ and simultaneously, ‘B’ causes ‘A’
resulting in a continually loop. Additionally, a recent study shows that the number of depressed
and anxious adolescents has increased rapidly in recent years (Richter). The relationship between
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sleep and mental health is more closely connected then most may think. Sleeping gives your
body the time to rejuvenate itself both mentally and physically. The brain is stimulated during
different stages of sleep, such as REM and NREM. Research shows that REM sleep helps your
brain process emotional information while NREM is a calmer time in your sleep pattern with less
brain activity (excluding a few bursts of activity scattered throughout the cycle) (Dimitriu).
One mental health disorder related to sleep is depression. An estimated 300 million
people in the world suffer from depression. Depression is a disorder relating to a person’s overall
mood. This disorder is displayed through feelings of hopelessness and feelings of sadness.
(Dimitriu). Approximately 75 percent of people who suffer from depression also suffer from
insomnia. In the past, people believed the depression caused the insomnia, but recent evidence
suggests that these two illnesses seem to cause or reinforce each another (Dimitriu).
Another mental health disorder related to sleep is anxiety. According to the American
thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. Anxiety causes your brain to
overthink and hyper focus on certain topics, which in turn makes it exceedingly difficult to fall
asleep. Since hyper focusing is a symptom of insomnia, people with anxiety generally have
insomnia as well. Similar to depression, anxiety has a bidirectional relationship with insomnia in
which anxiety and insomnia cause and/or reinforce one another (Dimitriu).
One last mental health disorder related to sleep is bipolar disorder. According to Alex
Dimitriu, bipolar disorder involves episodes of extreme moods that can be both high (mania) and
low (depression). When a person is bipolar, it is not just their mental habits that are affected their
sleeping habits could also be affected depending on if they are in a moment of mania (high) or
depression (low). Research shows that during moments of mania, they feel the need to sleep less
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and sometimes end up with an unhealthy lack of sleep. Conversely, while in moments of
depression, they feel the need to sleep more and usually sleep for long, sometimes excessive
amounts. Recent evidence suggests that problems falling and staying asleep can bring about
and/or worsen bipolar episodes. The bidirectional relationship mentioned above is also
applicable when talking about bipolar disorder, meaning a lack of sleep can bring about a bipolar
Sleep quality does not just affect adolescents mentally, but physically and emotionally as
well. Lack of sleep in adolescents results in stunted growth, increased chances of obesity and
diabetes, and decreases academic excellence. The aforementioned reasoning behind having
adolescents start school the earliest is deeply flawed. The main issue is the incorrect assumption
that teenagers and adults are at the same stage in hormonal and physical development. It needs to
be understood that teenagers are still developing hormonally and have extremely different needs
than the needs of a fully developed adult. Not only does a lack of sleep stunt an adolescent’s
physical and hormonal development, lack of sleep also negatively affects their relationships with
family and friends and negatively affects their academic performance (Becutti).
Adolescents are going through multiple changes, including major hormonal shifts. This is
the time in an adolescent’s life when puberty starts to hit them. This implies major physical
changes along with increased hormonal activity. These developments require sleep in order to
fully develop an adolescent’s body. During sleep, growth hormone is released. Because of this,
adolescents going through a growth spurt require more sleep than they normally would. One
negative effect a continuous lack of sleep could have on adolescents is stunted growth. When
adolescents receive less sleep then necessary, growth hormone is suppressed. While one night of
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restless or inadequate sleep will not have lasting damages on growth, a continual lack of sound
Another negative effect a lack of sleep has physically on adolescents is increased chances
of developing obesity and diabetes. New research has linked sleep to these illnesses. The reason
for the link between the two is that sleep is a regulator for metabolism and neuroendocrine
function (which relates to the interactions between the bodies endocrine system and nervous
system. Neuroendocrine describes the different cells that cause hormones to be dispersed
throughout the blood in our bodies in response to the nervous system being incited) (NCI
Dictionary of Cancer Terms). Lack of sleep has been proven to decrease glucose production,
decrease the bodies sensitivity to insulin, decrease leptin levels and increase the desire for food
and snacks. All the factors brought on by lack of sleep, contribute to obesity and diabetes
(Beccuti).satra
Another area affected by lack of sleep is academic excellence. Studies have proven that
when schools implement a later starting time, the academic excellence of the student body
increases dramatically. The reason behind this may be that students are more awake and alert
throughout the day and able to retain information more than if they were groggy and disoriented
all day. Sleep also helps brain functionality and promotes analytical thought, attention, and
memory. Not only is academic excellence increased, attendance is also increased with later start
time. The reason behind this may be that when adolescents wake up exceedingly early, their
bodies feel run down and may even show symptoms of sickness. Therefore, they may think they
have an illness and stay home to recover, when in reality they are sleep deprived. Later start
One of the more alarming effects of sleep deprivation among adolescents is the car
accidents due to drowsy driving. Due to the circadian rhythm (24-hour pattern that is run by the
body’s interior clock, which, when managed correctly, helps perform essential tasks and
operations) (Dimitiu) and melatonin secretion, adolescents run on a sleep schedule. Going to bed
after 11 (due to melatonin secretion) and waking up after 8, is a healthy sleep schedule and one
that your body continually tries to implement. School start times interfere with this sleep
schedule. Even without factoring melatonin secretion, most schools still start too early and assign
too much homework for it to be reasonable or even possible for adolescents to receive the
Taking all the aforementioned factors into account, it is easy to see how drowsy driving
might occur. One study researched two different schools with start times an hour apart. The
school that started at 7:20 a.m. experienced 65.4 out of 1000 students getting into a car accident,
while the school that started at 8:40 a.m. experienced 46.2 out of 1000 students getting into a car
wreck. That is a 41% difference. In another study, the researchers found that pushing back school
start times in order to allow sleep for adolescents resulted in a 16.5% decrease in accidents
Another experiment showed that 1 in every 10 accidents are caused by drowsy driving.
Additionally, adolescents account for over 50 percent of the accidents relating to drowsy driving
(Troxel). These statistics are obviously concerning. By disrupting adolescent’s sleep schedules,
we are not only harming them physically, emotionally, and mentally, we are also inadvertently
causing possible harm to the citizens in our towns and cities. It is said that drowsy driving is just
as dangerous as drunk driving, and yet drowsy driving is not only completely legal and
normalized but sometimes necessary among adolescents. In one article, a mother claimed that
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she would never let her child drunk drive, yet she continually lets them drive drowsy. This
mindset is incredibly common among parents who often do not realize the danger in drowsy
driving. (Troxel).
While drowsy driving is extremely concerning for adolescents and the citizens in our
cities, the impact a lack of sleep has on substance abuse can be argued to be just as concerning.
Studies have shown that adolescents with an unhealthy sleep schedule or an unhealthy lack of
sleep are more likely to have problems with substance abuse. The reason behind this is that,
“the impact of lack of sleep on dopamine receptors suggests that stimulant misuse and impaired
sleep could be a vicious cycle: Stimulants impair sleep, and reduced sleep produces changes in
the brain that predispose to further drug use and addiction.” (Volkow). Basically, lack of sleep
affects our bodies dopamine receptors and opens our bodies to further substance abuse which in
turn leads to impaired sleep. This cycle is incredibly similar to the bidirectional relationship
School start times are not the only thing that hinder adolescents from quality sleep. Other
factors contributing to lack of sleep are sports, clubs, extracurriculars, part-time jobs and
homework. While not all of these categories are activities directly pushed by school, all of them
are pushed by society. Understanding the reasoning behind society and schools pushing these
One main focus schools have (specifically high schools) is college acceptance rate and
graduation rate. They believe that if students participate in school activities and join clubs then
they have a better chance of graduating and getting into good colleges. While this may be true,
the schools are overlooking the health concerns they are causing through this way of thinking
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(Fox). While extracurricular activities are good in moderation, more often than not, students take
on too many, mainly because of the pressure to join clubs put on the students by the school, to
the point where their whole life consists of school and school activities. Tara Konkoly, a 16-
year-old sophomore states, “As a freshman, the teachers and staff of my school pushed us to join
clubs. I stay after school every day because of all the clubs I am in. Teachers particularly stressed
how good these clubs would look on college applications and how they would help me stay
focused on graduating, but all the commitments and late nights are negatively affecting my
health mentally, physically and emotionally. But most importantly, my relationships with my
parents and my brothers suffer from all of my commitments.” Tara does not play any sports or
any instruments, she stays after for clubs and clubs only (Konkoly).
parents and society as a whole. The main reason behind the need for part-time jobs is college
tuition. Parents are rarely able to fully pay for their child’s tuition to college, so they often push
their child to get a job and save money for college. Not only do parents expect children to pay for
college, some parents expect their children to pay for their car, their car repairs, gas, clothes,
food and more. It is not that these expectations are unreasonable, it is just that they are real and
valid. Adolescents are generally expected to pay for most of their necessities and non-necessities.
Sports are a kind of release for a lot of adolescents. Sports provide an outlet for
adolescents to get rid of any extra energy or frustrations they might have and they also provide a
way of keeping physically fit for adolescents (Comello). Studies have also proven how positively
sports affect adolescent’s academic careers. Students who play sports get better grades and have
higher graduation rates (At Your Own Risk: Benefits of High School Sports). So, not only are
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sports a fun outlet, they are proven to be a healthy outlet. However, at times, sports still detract
from student’s sleep. Ways sports might detract from sleep include: injuries, tournaments out of
Homework is another source of lack of sleep among adolescents. In a typical high school,
a student takes about seven classes per semester. That directly corelates to the amount of
homework they receive. Along with completing homework, they have tests to study for and
projects to complete for their classes. These different types of homework dramatically affect
These different expectations and activities, while good in moderation, can be detrimental
to development. For example, clubs are good and important among adolescents, but
overindulging in said clubs is quite frankly, terrible for adolescent’s health. The same goes for
homework. Homework is important for information retention among adolescents. However, too
much homework causes adolescents to be drained and exhausted and yet still having to work due
to the excessive amounts of homework given each night. Similarly, it is good and healthy for
adolescents to play sports, but not at the expense of their grades or more importantly their sleep.
In an interview conducted by Mary Brown, Brady Comello, a football player at his local high
school said, “all the guys on my team are so focused and committed to their sports. In the off
season, we all work out together, and we keep each other in check. But my mom is always telling
me to focus on my grades more because I become hyper focused on sports and athletics. My
commitment to sports makes it a lot harder to commit to other things like homework.” When
asked if his love for sports affects his sleep, he responded saying, “I would say, overall, yes. I
work a job, am in a club at school and have homework, so juggling all that along with working
out is tremendously difficult. Sleep is always put on the back burner; all the other things are
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more important to me.” This mindset is sadly exceedingly common, however, also
understandable. Adolescents tend to focus on things that are important to them (Satra), and many
Based on the information above, it is clear that sleep dramatically affects adolescent’s
health. There is evidence that a lack of sleep can cause these mental disorders, which begs the
question: why are we as a society not accommodating adolescents in their need for sleep? A
solution to most of these problems would be schools pushing back their start time. With this
comes a lot of repercussions such as school ending later, less time for sports, less time for clubs,
less time for homework and less time for a part-time job. However, ways to counteract these
businesses react to the change in start time and have them change their work hours, having times
for clubs and sports be pushed to after dinner instead of right after school. While this change
would drastically affect all aspects of life, it would eventually drastically improve all aspects as
well. When looking at all the proof and examples listed above of how positively sleep affects
adolescents mentally, physically, emotionally and academically, it is easy to see how necessary a
change is. Especially when considering the negative effects, such as: car accidents and mental
illnesses. Certain schools have implemented a later start time and while they have experienced
problems with certain after school activities, they mostly have positive outcomes such as; better
overall academic performance, better attendance and a dramatic improvement in the morale of
the students.
school and their parents, an adolescent having a normal and healthy sleep schedule is almost
impossible. Even though schools are aware of the negative side effects a lack of sleep has on
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adolescents, and they are aware they could help, they do nothing to fix the obvious problem. The
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