Shoddy Sleep

by Xen Bossard

I was running on three hours of sleep when I began writing this article.

This is a terrible sleeping habit. In the long term, it is unsustainable and is causing major

damage to my physical and mental well-being in the long run. Yet, this poor sleep habit has

been ingrained within me from a young age. As I entered middle school, my courseload began to grow, and I found myself sacrificing sleep to stay on the honor roll. In high school, I tried to stop this but was ultimately unsuccessful. I told myself I would improve my sleep schedule in college, but evidently, that never happened.

Before getting into the thick of this article, I encourage you, yes, you dear reader, to

comment on how much sleep you got last night. Yes, please post how much sleep you got

before reading the rest of what is here. We will come back to this later. The numbers suggest

you did not get enough sleep last night.

The Numbers

My story is not a lone one, most adolescents in the United States fail to get a proper

amount of sleep every night. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that in 2018, 6 out of every 10 middle schoolers and 7 out of every 10 high schoolers did not get a healthy amount of sleep (9-12 and 8-10 hours per night respectively).

These numbers are already unacceptably high, but there is a significant chance that they

are much worse than reported here. Kathleen Mackenzie, EdD, MSW, LICSW, CIMHP reports

that the number of middle and high school students getting inadequate sleep is actually 97% and 92%, adding that 60% of adults and youth are “clinically sleep-deprived.”

The Effects

The name “clinical sleep deprivation” should set off numerous alarm bells for you already

in a negative way. Just think about the last time you didn’t get enough sleep, but add a “clinical label” to it for an understanding of how bad it must be. As described by the Cleveland Clinic common symptoms include fatigue, irritability, headaches, and more. What’s more, sleep deprivation can go as far as to cause hand tremors, hallucinations, impaired judgment, and even impulsive behavior.

These more physical symptoms are terrible, even more so when you consider how many

children and teenagers are subjected to this. From an academic perspective, a lack of sleep is a common cause of trouble in schools. Nobody could stay completely focused on schoolwork while hallucinating; it’s just not possible.

Research conducted by the Australian Government also suggests even more worrying

risks brought on by sleep deprivation, such as lowered self-esteem, anxiety, and even

depression. Little explanation needs to be given to explain that something causing depression is bad.

The negative effects only continue to pile on. Within adults, it was found that not getting

enough sleep was linked to “heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes,

stroke, obesity, and depression.” (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) It is clear that a lack of sleep is dangerous to the individual regardless of their age. There are many more symptoms that could not fit into this article that you, as a reader, may have experienced at some point in your life.

Tragedy

Before moving on, however, it is essential to acknowledge how a lack of sleep affects

others as well. Rhoades & Morrow Attorneys at Law quotes a AAA Foundation for Traffic Study by stating as follows:

“...a driver getting between six to seven hours of sleep has a 1.3 times greater chance to have a car accident; between five to six hours of sleep, 1.9 times greater chance; four to five hours of sleep, 4.3 times greater chance; and less than four hours of sleep gives a driver an almost twelve times greater chance to have a car accident.”

While car accidents are common as grounds where sleep deprivation affects those not

sleep deprived, the effects can be tragic on a larger scale. On April 26th, 1986, a thirteen-hour shift without a break was interrupted. The reason for the interruption was a catastrophic error made by one of the workers, one of which the consequences reverberate even today. Sleep deprivation caused this:

The deaths and long-term consequences of the Chornobyl Nuclear Plant Meltdown are

well-known and documented (click here for further details). Had the employees been allowed better rest and perhaps a break to nap, perhaps the plant would have never exploded. Maybe some of them would still be alive today. Yet, in America today, we have legislation requiring these breaks and supposedly allowing for sleep. So why are so many of us sleep-deprived then?

School Start Times

As I stated earlier, my terrible sleep schedule began in Middle School. My middle school

started at 8:00 AM for homeroom, while my High School began at 7:45 AM. To add to this, my bus arrival times ranged anywhere from 7:12 AM to 6:00 AM, meaning that I would have to routinely get up as early as 5:00 AM at times to make it to class. With that, as well as the

homework and familial duties required of me in the afternoons and evenings, I had to miss out on a lot of sleep.

My story is not in any way unique, as many American students do the same thing every

year. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that most public high schools start

sometime around 8:00 AM, though some states, such as Louisiana, have an average school

start time of 7:30 AM. This is despite a 2014 recommendation by The American Academy of

Pediatrics: “In most districts, middle and high schools should aim for a starting time of no earlier than 8:30 AM.” I value education very highly, and I have a million opinions I could share about education. However, in speaking plainly without bias, the experts say that American adolescents are not getting enough sleep. One of the reasons they give, is that schools start too early.

Technology

Not all of the blame lies at the feet of schools for the issue that is undersleeping. A

significant reason so many people and students fail to get a proper amount of sleep is their

choices. The Cleveland Clinic has stated that phone usage within an hour of going to bed will result in lower quality and less sleep overall.

Phones damage your sleep when used right before bed because they emit blue light.

The Sleep Foundation states that “exposure to blue light in the hours leading up to bedtime can hinder sleep. Blue light suppresses the body’s release of melatonin.” Not only do phones emit blue light, but so do televisions, computers, lamps, LED lights, and much more. In other words, the light you typically would turn on in a room, as well as anything with a screen, will emit blue light and, if used too close to bedtime, will reduce your sleep quality and quantity.

With so many sources of blue light readily available to us, it is no surprise that most

expose themselves to it sometime before bed. A study of 1,508 Americans aged 13-64 found

that approximately 90% of participants used some form of technology sometime in the hour

before going to bed that exposed them to blue light.

The study was completed in 2011, but studies of the negative impact of blue light had

already been conducted, such as those of Morita and Tokuras in 1998. Technology is more

accessible today than it has ever been, and its widespread use just before bed negatively

affects the sleep of many people.

Conclusion

Sleep is an integral part of our lives. I don’t need to provide a study to credibly prove

that; any reader who disagrees with that fact can see how long they could go without it. We as people need sleep but do not get enough of it. We as people need sleep but fail to get it in good quality. We as people suffer from shoddy sleep. I provide no solution to this issue, but I write to inform you so you may gather and come up with your own conclusions. I encourage you, as a reader, to immediately reply to that comment from earlier (I told you we would come back to that) with how much sleep you got every night as a kid. If you reflect on this and the information above, I hope you will be able to improve your sleep habits and grow in the future.