Sleep disorders, deprivation require more public concern

By Roza Zadeh

It's 11:45 on a Tuesday night, and you've got an English paper due tomorrow, a chemistry lab to edit, and your three best friends each have a different story to tell you over the Internet on instant messenger. This combination of over-committed teenagers and distractions such as the Internet is one explanation to why on average, American students average about 60 minutes less sleep than European students.

Whether we are staying up to write an essay or to chat with friends, few teenagers are aware of the grave consequences of poor sleep habits. According to the Journal of Applied Physiology, performing an exciting task such as a video game on a bright display actually suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, which helps to regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

This can cause Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, which would cause the person to feel similar to someone struggling to overcome severe jet lag. Because a bright computer screen is believed to affect the biological rhythms that govern sleep, this becomes habit-forming behavior that could contribute to long-term sleep disorders, such as chronic insomnia, from an early age.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, (NSF), this lack of quantity and quality of sleeping hours in teenagers has been associated with higher rates of depression, poor school performance, negative moods and increased likelihood of stimulant use, in addition to higher likelihood of fatal car injuries.

In a finding by sleep researchers at Brown University in 1998, high school students who describe themselves as having academic problems and who are earning Cs or below in school report getting less sleep, having later bedtimes and having more irregular sleep schedules than students reporting higher grades.

The NSF has published research that a proper night's rest can result in up to 25 percent higher material learning retention and test scores, an outcome that would not only aid students but also gain the district more federal funding. While these are some of the many long-term advantages to encouraging better sleep health in adolescents, there are also highly urgent reasons to shed light on this matter. A 1999 study by Ronald Dahl revealed that sleep loss may be associated with decreased ability to control, inhibit or change emotional responses. Lack of sleep, compounded with many other academic, social and familial pressures of adolescent life could result in potentially catastrophic outcomes, such as suicide because of depression.

Unfortunately, even if a student suspects he is suffering from a sleep disorder, ignorance in the general population on this matter limits resources. Local sleep clinics offer overnight sleep studies that are sometimes covered by insurance to help diagnose and treat such disorders. Despite the tools and information to help raise awareness about the crucial role of sleep in the lives of adolescents from university studies and sources such as the National Sleep Foundation, most high school health and driver's ed curricula include little to no material on this topic.

It has been found that being awake for 18 hours before driving is equivalent to driving with a blood-alcohol concentration level of 0.08 percent, which could explain why those lacking sleep while driving cause 20 percent of all serious car accidents in the general population. Those under age 25 account for 55 percent of these drowsy-driving accidents, yet this topic is hardly discussed in schools.

Until students are better educated on sleep, they continue to be cheated of knowledge that could substantially improve their studies, health and general well-being. By demanding an end to sleep health ignorance in schools and educating the public on when and how to seek medical attention for sleep disorders, society benefits tremendously. As a student, I am calling for a renaissance in sleep awareness -- our roads, health, students, schools and dreams depend on it.