Blog Post #4

I listened to "Teens and Sleep." The broadcast talked about how most teenagers don't get enough sleep and how it affects them. I learned only 20% of teens get enough sleep. Seniors in high school get an average of 6.9 hours of sleep. This is really close to how much sleep I get. I usually get between 6 and a half and 7 hours a night. I found it interesting that most parents don't know that their children aren't getting enough sleep. This is because parents go to bed before their children and don't know when they go to sleep. This is true at my house. My parents go to bed hours before I do and don't know how late I stay up.

Studies have shown the reason teens are staying up later is too many activities, electronics, and their biology. Teens stay up on their computers and cell phones late into the night. This relates to my life. I stay up late doing my homework. If I didn't have a computer, I would get my homework done much faster and not have to stay up late. Cell phones are also very distracting because I talk on mine instead of concentrating on my work and it takes me twice as long to complete the activity I'm trying to accomplish at the time. Biology is another reason I stay up so late. Teenagers' internal clocks within their brains shift and they don't allow them to fall asleep. Even if I try to go to sleep early, I don't fall asleep until at least an hour later and this is because of my internal clock.

Not getting enough sleep affects teenagers in many ways. A study showed that 737,000 teens fall asleep during school every day. Lack of sleep also affects the moods of teenagers. They tend to be depressed and more temperamental. Lack of sleep also affect grades. People who get more than 8 hours of sleep tend to get better grades.

I also learned about REM sleep. It is rapid eye movement sleep which is a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. The muscles are relaxed but other body systems are active. This stage of sleep is the only stage that I will remember any of my dreams. Eugene Aserinsky discovered this when he did a test on his son with an electrocephalograph he had been repairing. Another thing I learned about was hallucinations which are false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus. People with demetia often hallucinate. I had experience with this while I worked in the nursing home. They would often try and point out people who weren't there.

I was suprised that 80% of teens don't get enough sleep. They stagger out of bed in the morning, awakened by their alarm clocks and yawn all throughout their day. At 11 P.M. they will start to feel energized. This is how much of my day is. I don't want to get up in the morning and yawn until after lunch. I almost fall asleep early in the night while doing my homework and then at 11 I'm not tired anymore and have a hard time falling asleep.

I agree that lack of sleep affects the emotions. I feel more depressed and get irritated much easier when I am sleep deprived. Sleep may impact some teenagers brains but I don't believe it affects everyone. I don't get 9 hours of sleep at night and I still get good grades. I think grades depend on how much time and effort is put into homework.