Circadian rhythms change. Teenagers naturally more awake later so have more difficulty in getting up earlier. This is known as a phase delay. Normal adult sleep is 8 hours a night with 25% REM sleep however more sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnoea occur. Sleep time decreases and people have more difficulty in going to sleep and they tend to wake up more frequently at night.
As new born babies grow to adults there are major changes in the amount of sleep and kind of sleep that a human experiences. New born babies tend to sleep for 16 hours but their sleep is not continuous. They display two kinds of sleep: quiet and active sleep which are immature versions of REM and SWS. They are more likely to have active sleep than adults as this is when development takes place, but it slowly decreases. It has been suggested that babies sleep longer as an adaptive measure to make their parents life a lot easier.
English 111 2/6/13 Summary According to “Americas Sleep-Deprived teens” we aren’t getting enough sleep and in some instances to much sleep. Many teens are falling asleep in class and not getting there work done. Weather it’s the parents not knowing, everyday pressures or other factors the fact is children aren’t getting enough sleep. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) conducted a survey and the findings were pretty interesting. While many parents claim that they know there children’s sleeping patterns and make sure they get enough sleep, more than one half (56%) of adolescents say they get less sleep than recommended.
As childhood progresses, the need for sleep decreases, but in adolescence it increases slightly, to around 9 or 10 hours a night. Circadian rhythms are also known to change which cause teenagers to feel naturally more awake later at night and have more difficulty getting up early (phase delay). A distinguishing feature of adolescent REM sleep is that in males it is sometimes accompanied by orgasm or ejaculation, which is significantly less likely at other ages.
However stuffing information into your brain takes time, which is taken up by being in school and other activities. By staying up late studying, we compensate for those lost hours and get a leg up on the students who didn’t stay up. Or so we think… In a study done by Pilcher and Walters, 44 college students were placed into either a sleep deprived, or non-sleep deprived group and allowed to sleep and wake up at certain time during the three-day experiment. After the three days were up, each group took a series of tests and questionnaires. When asked how they thought they did, the sleep deprived group reported to have had a higher level of concentration and an increased level of effort.
It also causes the reaction time to slow down, sometimes behavior becomes unpredictable, ability to make decisions decline. People do not always know when they are not getting enough sleep and when you are deprived of sleep, you are craving sleep. My results from the sleep deprivation test were 11 points and I could not trace the star accurately with my nondominant hand. I also realized that I fall asleep after a lot of activities such as; watching TV, in class during lectures, eating heavy meals, within five minutes of me getting into bed. It’s also hard for me to wake up in the morning without an alarm clock, I struggle to get out of bed, and I hit my snooze button a lot of times.
When you were a teenager, how often did you find yourself sleepy during school? How often did you fall asleep during class? Research probes that if schools had later start times kids would be more alert during the day, grades would improve, behavior would improve, and there will be less tardiness. Lets face it, most teenagers usually go to bed late, meaning they wake up late for school, and then result in tardiness. Constantly being for the same class, students begin to fail, and who wouldn't be upset from that?
More than 90% of high school students in America suffer throughout the school day because of chronic sleep deprivation. Students, parents, teachers, and doctors have begun to question the start times of schools and their effect on students. Schools may begin early to allow time for extracurricular activities and sports practices at the end of the school day. By beginning earlier, students and teacher get home earlier. But overtime, early start times have developed negativities in the lives of adolescents.
Bad habits can cause many sleep problems. Health issues of all kinds can effect sleeping. Lack of exercise or stress are common problems as well. 2. How does alcohol affect sleep?
Reduced sleep can add manic and hypomania episodes. Studies have found that 25% to 65% of bipolar patients who had a manic episode have experienced social rhythm disruption prior to the episode [ (AstraZeneca, 2009) ]. Social rhythm disruption can throw off a person’s sleeping cycle. This can be as simple as staying up late working, watching television or even being nervous about something and not being able to sleep. Once a person lacking sleep has gone into mania they start believing that they do not need sleep and will stay awake for more than 20 hours, this makes the disorder worse [ (AstraZeneca, 2009) ].