Importance Of Sleep

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Sleep is a major component of health and deprivation of it will harshly affect a person’s mental state. Being overtired keeps one from being able to complete daily tasks and routines to the best of their ability. This is due to the fact that lack of sleep affects a person’s alertness and attentiveness. Without being alert or being able to give ones full attention will dramatically affect behavior. The brain cannot properly function without having an adequate amount of rest. The average person requires approximately eight hours of sleep a night in order to be well rested and fully alert. If this requirement is not met one will face difficult in daily routines and tasks. Such tasks include driving, cooking, performing tasks at their job or learning new materials in school. Without sleep the brain will not be able to generate a useful attention span. When the brain becomes exhausted it is difficult for someone to learn and remember new concepts. Research has been done on students who sleep the necessary average amount verse students who lack proper amounts of sleep. As a result those students who received eight hours of sleep produced better test scores and overall grades than the student who were short of sleep. The cerebral cortex plays a major roll in alertness and attentiveness. The cerebral cortex is a part of the brain that generates neurons that allow for synaptic connections to take place. Without these connections it is difficult for new memories to be formed. In addition to memory, speech can be affected by sleep deprivation. The section of the brain known as the frontal lobe is an area that performs functions associated with speech and complex thoughts. Sleep deprived students that were observed in research resulted in having trouble coming up with original ideas or use of a strong vocabulary. Along with poor train of thought these students produced
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