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Ryan Scales Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English (1102) 11/29/13 Dont Skip on the Zzzs Five More Minutes The sun begins to peek through the clouds, ascending from the horizon, on what appears to be the birth of a great day. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee has my senses heightened as I sit perched on the edge of a nearby pier. Seagulls are soaring above, dolphins are dancing in the ocean, fathers are fishing with their sons and waves are crashing onto the pier docks to make an ever-so blissful sound; everything is perfect. I then start to hear a noise from afar. Starting from the background and excessively getting louder. I soon realize that I cannot move and everything around me is slowly fading away. As my brain starts to get kicked back into reality, I try to fight to stay in this world of perfection I created, but I cannot. The noise is now practically beating in my head. Immediately I arise from an unawaken state and humbly beg for five more minutes. I take the longest stretch my arm is able to withstand as I repose the alarm clock. After climbing out of a cloud of pillows and comforters, I slowly stumble my way over to the shower. I let the soothing hot water pour onto my head as it gradually travels down my back and onto my feet. While doing my best to stay upright, I manage to take a shower with some ease. I finally take a step out, pat myself dry, and go about my morning routine. A whole day sits ahead of me and I could not be more exhausted. We have all had mornings where waking up almost seemed intolerable. Hoping the alarm clock would magically turn its hands back a few extra hours just to give us the bare minimal

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amount of energy that we need to go about our day. We finally force ourselves to break the barrier of darkness our eyes have been acclimated to and open them to a society that demands attentiveness in practically every area. While observing this drowsiness, sleeplessness and ineffective behavior the human population commonly reflects throughout the day concerned me on how we go to sleep every night. The routines and activities people choose to participate in, as well as the quality and quantity of sleep they get plays a critical role in the behavior our body imitates throughout the day. Sleep Deprivation: Numbers Dont Lie More than eighty-five sleep disorders have been recognized by the American Sleep Disorders Association (Breus). As sleep deprivation continues to be overlooked all throughout the world today, the numbers continue to rise. An estimated 50-70 million U.S. adults have a sleep or wakefulness disorder that most, if not all of them, dont even know they have (Science). The people are usually unaware of the fact that they are sleep deprived and mistake feeling exhausted as feeling normal. Sleep deprived individuals seem to never know that they have been sleep deprived; due to either overlooking their sleep behavior or having a careless attitude about their sleep hygiene. Thomas Roth, PhD, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, stresses that people usually have a hard time trying to figure out whats disturbing their sleep. There's a lot of misattribution. They assume its one thing, but it's actually something else entirely (Griffin). Sleep deprived individuals have been known to put blame on something else to excuse their lack of energy as well. Parents will put fault toward their children that kept them up all night or a college student will put blame on an exam he or she had to cram for the night before. Its practically interlaced in our culture to be sleep deprived. To break it down even more, up to one third of Americans have symptoms of insomnia

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but yet only 10% of those are identified by primary-care doctors (Breus). Its as if the doctors arent even seeing the severity of sleep inertia in patients. In an instance where someone would visit their physician, they are very rarely asked about their sleep behavior. The doctors arent putting any emphasis on this issue when in retrospect it is feeding the fires of several deaths across the globe. However, the blame cannot all be on the physicians. At the end of the day, its the responsibility of people to take care of their own personal hygiene, sleep included. More Than Just Sleep Having poor sleep patterns have been known to link to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and several other health concerns, but even then no one is taking action (Griffin). Dr. Michael J. Breus, a clinical psychologist and both a representative of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, stresses that chronic sleep deprivation significantly affects your health, performance, safety, and even pocketbook. He emphasizes that an individual with irregular sleep behavior will experience a decrease in their performance alertness as well as impairment to their memory and cognitive judgment. Sleep deprivation brings about many other symptoms of discomfort that often go overlooked as well. It is known to build onto the stress in our already stressed filled lives; resulting in more relationship problems and automobile/occupational accidents. Drowsy driving never seems to be understood as a threat in society, when in actuality, its worse than driving intoxicated. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities (Breus). People are forcing their bodies to stay attentive during the day due to their lack of sleep the previous night. The problem is here, people arent getting enough sleep. Whether from staying up all night watching TV or getting off

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work really late, excuses will come about from all directions. However, the only person to blame for a restless sleep is the restless person. As a culture, we need to accept that better sleep has to be a priority to our health. Brush Your Teeth, Fluff Your Pillow Good sleep hygiene habits are understood to be the key role in preventing sleep deprivation. Sleep hygiene is simply related to the nightly procedure each and every one of us do every night. However, going to bed at the same time every night with getting the necessary hours seems like an impossible task. Fifty years ago, we slept 20% more than we do today (Science). Although that percentage may not seem alarming, its better understood in terms of time. Someone who got eight hours in the 1960s would get about six and half hours in 2013. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco discovered that some people have a gene that enables them to do well on six hours of sleep a night. This gene, however, is very rare, appearing in less than 3% of the population. For the other 97% of us, six hours doesnt come close to cutting it (Smith). There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can manage on in a day and the amount of sleep you need to function optimally. According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. Most healthy adults, however, need between seven and a half to nine hours of sleep per night to function at their best (How). Children five to twelve years of age need even more sleep; around ten to eleven hours. Also needing more sleep but not as much as a child are teenagers, who can get by with having about eight and a half to ten hours of sleep every night. The problem with sleep deprivation in our society really is simple; people are not informed or rather, they just dont care. The people who dont care about getting a good night

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sleep are only hurting themselves at the end of the day. They are so accustomed to living their life with poor sleeping habits that it would almost be a burden for them to make a change. Due to the mindset of these people not caring about their sleep behavior only continue to hurt themselves; with some of them not even noticing it until its too late. Maintaining an appropriate late-night routine with getting the necessary hours every night is just putting it in simple terms. These preparations are barely even breaking the ice when regarding the issue of sleep deprivation and the effects it has on the human body as well as how society is reflected as a whole. Viewing artificial light and contributing in certain late-night activities have been especially known to affect our sleep cycle. Shut the Lights Off Humans have evolved in many different areas in both physiological aspects as well as behavior aspects. People have habitually picked up numerous habits that are slowly affecting them in ways they dont understand. One custom that our society is starting to display is that we are dependent on technology. From laptops to cell phones to tablets, its evolving at a rate we cant even measure. Since technology is more intervened in our lives than ever before, it is affecting our sleeping behavior as well. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain that helps facilitate sleep and wake cycles (Melatonin). Melatonin is always flowing in the chemical composition of the brain and when suppressed can throw off the circadian rhythm (system). The circadian system is basically what allows us to stay awake during the day and go to bed at night. This circadian rhythm, or internal clock, regulates our human behavior in light and dark cycles (Science). When this balance is thrown off, such as with a lack of melatonin, sleep is affected greatly. We frequently experience this after flying on an airplane over a few time zones. Jet lag is

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this experience that our brain perceives while our circadian rhythm takes time to accommodate to the change. When our circadian rhythm reaches the point where it is time to shut down and prepare for sleep, melatonin levels increase significantly. The issue with technology is the effect it has on our bodies as we go about our nightly routine. How many of us watch TV at night or are on our cell phones /laptops while we are lying in bed? Its virtually woven into our routine. The LED lights or blue light in most of these devices have been known to decrease the levels of melatonin in the brain. Having this decrease in melatonin leads us to be restless during the night. Although it may not be on everyones plate to cut back on the electronics at night, itll end up eating away at our hours. Until LED lights are a thing of the past try to limit usage after hours or maybe try reading a book. All You Need Is a Pillow Consuming stimulants and other drugs during evening hours is also known to affect sleep patterns. The most common stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine contribute greatly to the inclining numbers of individuals facing sleep deprivation. Avoiding coffee and cigarettes should be held off until morning, as well as most medications. Another given to avoid is alcohol. Jodi A Mindell, PhD, a professor of psychology at St. Josephs University in Philadelphia studied the effect of alcohol on human sleep demeanor. "Alcohol affects the rhythm of sleep," says Mindell. "It acts as a sedative at first, but then a few hours later when blood alcohol level drops, it will wake you up again (Smith)." There has always been a common misperception that alcohol has a tendency to make us feel tired; however, its quite the opposite. Lacking the appropriate amount of sleep our bodies need is as crucial and harmful to us as not getting enough nutrients in a day. Thomas Roth, PhD, the director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, emphasizes that people are never taught how to

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properly sleep, starting at a young age. "People learn about nutrition and exercise in grade school, but nobody teaches us anything about the importance of sleep," says Roth. "As a society, we need to accept that better sleep has to be a priority." However, its not as simple as teaching elementary students the significance of sleep in fixing this problem; kids will be kids. Society cannot become apathetic with this issue as it will continue to take lives day in and day out. The Science of Appropriate Sleep When the human body finally gets to shutting down at the end of the day, it goes under many operations while we are asleep. Before the 1950s, physicians thought our mind shut down when we went to sleep (Science). Because the research of sleep deprivation is in its infancy, theres this misperception that our body and brain are in a state of rest when we are asleep. This may be true for our body, as our muscles are in a stage of growth and repair; however, our brain is still very much active. The brain goes through three or sometimes four stages that could easily become disrupted leading to a restless morning. The stages of brain activity are broken into different estimated periods of time that vary on certain measures. The transition to sleep stage, or N1 stage, is a very vital phase in the process of going to sleep. Although the average person falls asleep in relatively five to seven minutes, many factors can get in the way of this process (How). The eyes will slowly move back behind the eyelids as the muscle activity slows down, but the individual can still be easily awakened. In a case where someone does not consume any stimulants, alcohol, or other sleep-altering inhibitors, the N1 stage is the shortest stage before entering true sleep. True sleep is when the human body transitions to the next stage (N2), or the light sleep stage. Neuropsychologists consider this stage as when we truly enter sleep. It generally lasts fifteen to twenty-five minutes as the eyes cease movement, the heart rate drops, and the body

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temperature decreases (How). Similar to the N1 stage, the individual is still susceptible to being disturbed fairly easy. The last stage (N3), or deep sleep phase, is when the human body has fully fallen asleep. It is difficult to awaken someone in this stage, as the brain is very relaxed in a state of comfort. If an individual is disrupted during this stage, they will awaken felling irritated, groggy, and disoriented for several minutes. Since this is the deepest stage of sleep, before dreaming occurs, brain waves are extremely slow as blood flow is directed away from the brain (How). Most of the blood flow goes directly to the muscles to allow them to repair from a long days work and to restore physical energy. After the human body has been at ease for approximately an hour to an hour and a half, brain activity increases and dreaming occurs. This is known as REM sleep or rapid eye movement dream sleep. This phase is not always reached when an individual goes about their sleeping process (How). However, if it is reached, the eyes start to move rapidly, respirations in the lungs become shallower, and the heart rate and blood pressure begin to increase. To some physicians, this is when a light version of sleep paralysis can occur. The arms and legs are basically paralyzed because of the activity and focus the body has on the brain. Start Counting the Sheep Sleep deprivation will soon be known as the new silent killer if it does not get the attention it deserves. Physically, we become weak, mentally, we become unstable, and emotionally, we become irritable. Our culture improperly views sleeping as just an activity that well get to at the end of the day; when our body virtually demands it. When in fact, a lack of sleep leads to numerous health issues and is producing a population of unproductive behavior.

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Its about that time we all start going to bed a little earlier at night. After all, we all know the famous proverb, early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy and wise.

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Works Cited Breus, PhD, Michael J. "Chronic Sleep Deprivation and Health Effects." WebMD. WebMD, 16 Mar. 2006. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. Griffin, R. Morgan. "Surprising Causes of Sleep Loss and Disturbed Sleep." WebMD. WebMD, 05 Sept. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. "How Much Sleep Do You Need?" Sleep Cycles & Stages, Lack of Sleep, and How to Get the Hours You Need. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Sept. 2013. Institute of Medicine. Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2006. "Melatonin for Sleep: Hormone and Supplement Effects on Sleep." WebMD. WebMD, 7 July 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2013 Smith, MA, Melinda, Lawrence Robinson, and Robert Segal, MA. "How Much Sleep Do You Need?" Sleep Cycles & Stages, Lack of Sleep, and How to Get the Hours You Need. HelpGuide, Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013 Science and Sleep. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2008. Internet resource.