By Hailey Pecic
Viking Longboat
Haslett HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
Informative Feature
Children throw tantrums against nap times. Teenagers pull all nighters to squeeze in as much time as possible with their smart phones and textbooks. Many adults do the same in an effort to work as many hours as they can. In this caffeine hooked, work obsessed world, sleep has always come second to everything else.
“I think it’s incredibly helpful to get a decent amount of sleep, but it’s usually the first thing to go when I have a busy day or up my schedule,” senior Grace VanGorder said. “I have a crazy busy schedule and it’s (sleep) nice to have, but there is a lot of important things. It’s the least important compared to grades or my sports or other extracurriculars.”
VanGorder’s view on sleep is typical, especially among teenagers. Even Thomas Edison is believed to have said, “Sleep is a criminal waste of time, inherited from our cave days.” Studies show that if Edison was right, the cavemen are the ones who had it all figured out. Sleep is as essential to human health as eating and breathing.
Short-term consequences of sleep deprivation include lack of alertness, impaired memory and impaired ability to think. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
estimates that 100,000 crashes a year are a result of drowsy driving. Around 1,550 people die from these crashes.
The long-term effects are much more severe. Sleep deprivation can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, psychiatric problems and obesity. Those who sleep five hours or less a night have a 50 percent chance of obesity because of the release of the hunger hormone, Ghrelin, which is a gateway to even more health issues.
A common excuse for late nights is the need to work and study, but dismissing sleep can actually take a huge toll on grades and work ethic. Circadian Neuroscientist Russell Foster said during a popular Ted Talk that the ability to learn a task in sleep deprived individuals is destroyed. “Our ability to come up with novel solutions to complex problems is hugely enhanced by a night of sleep,” Foster said during the lecture.
The results of sleep deprivation are obvious to employers and teachers. YMCA Camp program director, Aimee Woodrow spends a majority of her year working with kids ages 6 to 16 and managing high school and college-aged staff.
“Physical signs of lack of sleep include dark circles, puffy eyes and a general lethargy in their movement. Behaviorally, staff and campers who do not get enough sleep lack energy and enthusiasm,” Woodrow said. “They have less patience and tend to have more problems in a day. Small interferences turn into catastrophes on tired days as opposed to on a well rested day, the interference would be no
problem.”
As an employer, Woodrow considers the role of sleep to pay a large role in hireability. “Staff not being well rested for work could certainly deter them from gaining the employment they’re hoping for,” she said. “It shows a lack of prioritizing. I am very unimpressed by individuals who have a hard time prioritizing their health over late nights.”
Working alongside Woodrow in the summers, Southern Illinois University junior Elizabeth Haubert, majoring in elementary education, says sleep is essential to success. “I went through a period of my life when I averaged maybe four or five hours a of sleep a night. I didn’t even remember what it was like to feel well rested my entire senior year of high school,” Haubert said.
She has since then changed her sleeping habits. “Our bodies do so much for us. They breath and think and run and laugh. The least we can do is take care of them,” Haubert said. “Yes, this includes eating right and moving our bodies, but it also means giving our bodies the time to rest and recuperate that they need.”
As a future educator, Haubert’s big concern lays in sleep deprivation’s effects on children. “Sleep is so ridiculously essential to a child’s development,” she said. “It can affect test scores and grades and those are important, no matter how much I wish they weren’t. But more importantly, it hinders a child’s health, brain development and physical development.”
In the 1950s, data says most people got about eight hours of sleep a night. Now the average is one and half to two hours less.
Teenagers have it much worse. With a need of nine hours, many only get an average of five on a school night. To make matters worse, teenagers are biologically hard wired to go to bed late and wake up late, which goes entirely against the modern education schedule.
It’s not certain why the average hours have dipped, but popular theories include heavier workloads in schools and the constant use of technology. To make up for the lack of energy, people turn to stimulants, the most popular choice being caffeine. Less common alternatives are drugs, and alcohol as a sedative. All three can be highly addictive.
To provide a better night’s sleep, it’s suggested that bedrooms be made as dark as possible and left at a cooler temperature. Also, avoiding bright screens like computers, TVs and phones at least 30 minutes before bedtime will help with the process of falling asleep.
But, the most useful tip is simply to make sleep a health priority. “If I could tell young people something in regards to sleep it would be that you need more than you think.” Woodrow said. “People turn into a different kind of person when they’re tired. We’re all healthier, happier and better to be around when we’re well rested.”