Sleep deprivation can have adverse effects

Posted Jan. 18, 2023

By Ivan Garz

Staff Reporter

Lack of sleep has been a recurring issue for adolescent students for a long time and we all  know it isn’t exactly healthy, but most people aren’t aware of the adverse effects attributed to lack of sleep until it affects their lives directly. One group that is heavily affected by insufficient sleep is teenagers. The teenage brain produces melatonin later in the night for teenagers due to sleep phase delay, which is the shift in the teenage circadian rhythm causing teens to fall asleep two hours later than children and adults, this causes teens to subsequently not get the CDC recommended 8-10 hours of sleep due to early start times in schools, jobs, extracurriculars, homework, etc. Many teens also end up dozing off during class which makes it hard to focus on schoolwork and perform their best in school. According to healthier.stanfordchildrens.org as of 2019, 70% of High Schoolers get less than the recommended amount of sleep and it is negatively affecting them in various ways.

Driving a vehicle is something many Highschoolers are familiar with and do on a daily basis, however, operating heavy machinery such as a vehicle is not a good pair up with sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep contributes heavily towards motor vehicle accidents or near accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel even momentarily, if a teenager isn’t awake enough to get to school in the morning then how can they be expected to do their best in class and be awake and focused for sports, extracurriculars, their jobs, or homework? 

Sleep deprivation not only affects the physical health and development of teens, but also their psychological health and cognitive function. Chronic sleep deprivation increases depression and anxiety in teenagers and causes inability to focus on work and school and can even cause hypertension and tachycardia. Many teens try to increase their intake of caffeine to combat their sleep deprivation, however this can actually make it worse, causing them to have even more trouble falling asleep as well as less sleep and consuming an excess amount of caffeine to keep them awake and doing the things they need to do on a daily basis. 

The burden of responsibility on teens to wake up early, get to school, do their homework, get good grades, and work causes their needs for sleep to be disregarded which ends up causing them other problems in the long run. This issue is exacerbated by adults’ lack of understanding of the teenage brain and an important step towards improvement would be to change high school start times to 9-10am, allowing teens to be at their highest level of functioning with adequate rest and therefore improving their performance in school and productivity allowing them to foster healthy sleeping habits long-term.