Blog #7: Sleep Deprivation Amongst Students

 

Student @ work by Plueschopossum

A lot of testings and observations are done on adults for sleep deprivation. Adults do run the market and practically the whole nation. So, what about the adverse effects of sleep deprvation on adults so what about teenagers? Are they just as bad for adults? Well, the effects of sleep deprivation on adults are just as bad for teenagers too.

In an article by Russell Westerholm entitled "Sleep Deprivation in College Students as Detrimental to GPA and Class Participation as Marijuana Use and Binge Drinking," he shows that sleep deprivation for teenagers is as bad as marijuana use and binge drinking – drinking large amount of alcohol in  a short amount of time. Theses effects of marijuana use and binge drinking has a similar effect on a student's grade point average (GPA) as sleep deprivation. He also states that sleep deprivation is also the cause of students getting worse grades and dropping out of classes.

Westerholm quotes Dr. Roxanne Prichard, PhD in saying "...most college freshmen are independent for the first time in their lives and staying up late is something they can see as harmless... younger college students are also more likely to want to stay up late because of their age. Known as a 'delayed phase.'

The effects of sleep deprivation on students evidently affects their grades, and sleep deprivation also affects a student's entire wellness such as emotional problems and of course performance problems which leads to the decline on a student's GPA.

Now, in an article by Siri Carpenter entitled "Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health" she shows that teenagers actually sleep later in the night than children. It also stated that for teenagers who biologically sleep later and wake up later than usual, "are tantamount to abuse." Also, schools who have pushed back their morning classes to a later time has shown that students have shown some improvement to the student's grades and emotions.

Carpenter quoting Amy R. Wolfson, PhD says "changing school start times isn't the entire answer. 'I think we have to be educating children, parents and teachers about the importance of sleep, just as we educate them about exercise, nutrition and drug and alcohol use.'"

Having students wake up early is abuse being all groggy and unfocused in the morning. And having students wake up naturally to be in school without knowing why could be wrong without proper education on why they go to school at a later time. Students can feel the difference of being ready for school by waking up later in themselves but don't know exactly why they have to.

Blog #6: Sleep Deprivation and Work

Sleep by Sithzam

We have now seen the benefits of sleep, how the body demands for sleep and how the body stays awake. Now let's see how this affects people in their day to day lives. It was already shown that sleep is essential for a person to function well, so how about the consequences of missing out on sleep? We will tackle on sleep deprivation's effects to a person at work.

Vicki Bell wrote an article about and entitled "How sleep deprivation affects work performance." Here Bell shared facts that in a poll that most Americans are not getting the right amount of sleep. She also lists down facts about the short and long term consequences of sleep. She also wrote a short summary of problems an employee could face if he or she does not get enough sleep.

Bell writes "Work and relationship problems increase stress levels, which in turn exacerbate sleep problems. Combine sleep problems, added stress, and the anxiety sleep deprivation sufferers feel as they approach bedtime—will I have trouble falling asleep; will I sleep through the night; will I get enough sleep—and the situation can appear hopeless."

Bell writes that stress and sleep deprivation can be a vicious cycle. The person will be sleep deprived and stresses out at work then in stresses out in their bed which leads to more sleep deprivation and continues on and on. But this cycle can be cured avoiding more sleep disorders.

In an article written by Carolyn Gregoire entitled "5 Things You Should Know About Sleep Health in the Workplace", Gregoire enlists five problems brought up by sleep deprivation for employees and gives a small explanation on each problem. She writes that insufficient sleep is linked with decreased productivity, less innovation, lower job satisfaction and unethical behavior in the workplace. To list it down here it is:

1. Sleep Affects Not Just Productivity, But Innovation.
2. Sleep Deprivation And Stress Are A Vicious Cycle.
3. 24/7 Jobs Are Taking A Big Toll On Sleep Health.
4. Not All Naps Are Created Equal.
5. Corporate Wellness Programs Need To Address Sleep And Stress. 

She writes that "Lack of sleep affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area that controls innovation, self-control and creativity. A 1999 study found that just 24 hours of sleep loss impairs innovative thinking and flexible decision-making."

So if the brain is greatly affected who's to say that how you tackle the day? As obvious as these effects are what we avoid to be sleep deprived, a lot of people constantly choose to be sleep deprived, by sleeping late and waking up early. One problem is that like in Gregoire's article she showed that businesses indirectly support sleep deprivation like praising their employees for responding to an e-mail at 3.A.M.

Corporations should stop supporting these values and support values that matter to the customer and employee to be at their best performance for the company and their private lives.

Blog #5: Dopamine

Sleepy Explorer by ZoranPhoto

Now what is dopamine? Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that becomes active when the person is feeling happy or a certain amount of pleasure – Much like adrenaline when there is a certain kind of emergency. Dopamine goes around the brain giving the person a sense of fulfillment. Now what does dopamine have to with sleeping or the circadian rhythm?

Bethany Brookshire – who is better known by her pen name: Scicurious – wrote an article entitled “Sleep Deprived? Mind your dopamine” which covers on dopamine and its effect of being sleepy and awake. Here she said that the current hypothesis for being awake that utilizes the effects of dopamine may be partly controlled by its D2 receptors.

The author also stated from an earlier study from Volkow et al. that “increased dopamine release, which would cause decreases in D2 receptors (this is a basic idea in pharmacology, when a group of receptors is overstimulated, some receptors will leave the membrane, making the membrane less sensitive to stimulation).” In a nutshell: If there is too much dopamine in the person’s system then some of the dopamine’s receptors will be lost or be less sensitive to the dopamine itself.

The experiment made by Volkow et al. resulted in showing that the decline in D2 receptors that was hypothesized with sleep deprivation is not because of the increase in dopamine release during sleep deprivation. Although as the author stated the opposite may be true that it may be the receptors themselves that make a person sleepy with the lack of dopamine.

In Krista Conger’s article entitled “Research shows dopamine plays crucial role in sleep regulation” summarizes experiments done by Stanford University Medical Center.She explains that dopamine is a neurotransmitter used for communications between brain cells. She continues and says that methamphetamine blocks the transporter complexes of dopamine and that modafinil binds to the dopamine transporter. 

In Conger's article she quoted Jonathan Wisor, PhD – a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dale Edgar, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science – that "Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant in the world, and it's thought to work through another neurochemical, adenosine." She continues on by saying that "Caffeine works by blocking the receptors for adenosine and preventing the sleep signal from being transmitted."

Dopamine is an important chemical towards the person's sleep and wake cycle. Certain subjects in the experiment showed that stayed up longer experienced daytime sleepiness. If this were also applied to human beings, daytime sleepiness could lead to the person missing a lot of activities during the day. this would probably be de to overfatigue from staying awake too long; the brain ignoring certain chemicals for it to work longer.

Blog #4: Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells

Eye by BarbaraTheKid

Ever wonder how your body knows when it's daytime while your sleeping? Or how you feel sleepy during certain times of the day? Yep, It's because of the eyes reacting to light but more specifically Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells. What are Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells? Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells, or mRGCs,  are photosensitive cells found in the eye and play a vital role in the body's circadian system, as previously stated in the last blog.

In Caitlin Sedwick's article "Melanopsin Ganglion Cells: A Different Way of Seeing Things" there are three photopigments in the eye. Photopigments in rods detects dim lighting like during nighttime, and photopgiments in cones detects brighter lighting. And the third photopgiment found in the eye is called the Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells. These cells helps set the circadian cycle for when the person is going to wake or sleep. But recent research tells us that these cells actually play a vital role in visual perception, eyesight.

Sedwick also stated that "The potential for mRGCs to contribute to visual perception may explain why people with conditions or diseases that progressively destroy their rods and cones can often still perceive the presence of ambient light" In other words: People with any illness that destroys the person's rods and cones for the person's eyesight could still detect whether the place where the person is placed could have any light at all.

Aside from the fact that the person could normally see with the photopigments in the rods and cones located in the person's eye, mRGCs are responsible for detecting light from the surrounding area and notify the brain the presence, absence and intensity of light. Helping set the circadian cycle for a person who is in good health or who is sick.

Dustin M. Graham also expounds on this discovery in his article "Melanopsin Ganglion Cells: A Bit of Fly in the Mammalian Eye by Dustin M. Graham." He states that mRGCs are much less sensitive to light and are responsible in informing the brain in changes to the ambient light throughout the day. mRGCs's primary role is to signal light for unconscious visual reflexes such as the activities in the circadian rhythm.

Graham stated that "All these findings heavily suggested that these ganglion cells were the mysterious third photoreceptor type Keeler had predicted almost 80 years earlier." Keeler experimented on mice that lacked most of their rod and cone photoreceptor which made them virtually blind but Keeler found out that these mice's eyes are still reactive to light.

Melanopsin Retinal Glangion Cells play a vital role in the body's circadian rhythm. Even though the person may be virtually blind from the lack of photorecptors in the rods and cones from their eyes, mRGCs react to the surrounding light and help the person see the surrounding's light. But we're strolling a bit too far from the importance of sleep. Next time we tackle on the chemicals that help us stay awake.

Blog #3: The Circadian System

Z by Osato-kun

Okay everyone, gather 'round. The human body is one big system made up of other systems to help the body function well, right? The nervous system is in charge for sensory inputs from various nerves from the body and the muscular system is in charge of the body's movement.
 Now, what system is in charge of telling the body when to sleep and when to wake up? The answer is "The Circadian System." 

In an article written by Akiko Hida, Shingo Kitamura and Kazuo Mishima, Pathophysiology and pathogenesis of circadian rhythm sleep disorders, the human body show a 24-hour pattern based on the light and darkness the person sees, and when the persons eats or food intake. The circadian system is highly dependent of light or the lack of it. If the body's circadian systems become damaged, this could lead to various kinds of diseases, including sleep disorders.

The article states that "The desire to sleep increases gradually with extended wakefulness and decreases during sleep." As stated in the article, the circadian system and the homeostatic drive work together in the body's sleep-wake cycle. The homeostatic drive is the body's way to measure how long the person has been awake. Paired with with the circadian system, it sends signals to the brain that it's time to sleep.

The Circadian system is a complex system that base itself from the environmental factors it can get and judge whether it's time to sleep or not. The body is also able to track down what time of the day it is by assessing the light and food intake of the person. Apart from an abnormal eating pattern, when else do you eat lunch?

In Dijk and Archer's article Light, Sleep, and Circadian Rhythms: Together Again, it shows how the Circadian system is largely dependent on light more than the other sources for the brain to process.The light is gathered by the melanopsin, a photopigment found in the retina, and then sent to the brain for processing. The Circadian system and the homeostatic also influences the major stages in one sleep cycle, namely rapid eye movement sleep or REM sleep and non-REM sleep.

The article continued and stated that "Mounting evidence supports the view that the effects of light on sleep and brain activity during wakefulness, as well as the duration of sleep and the homeostatic response to sleep loss, depend on both melanopsin and circadian time." Namely the circadian system's idea of what time it is and melanopsin are the determiners for the body to be active, to stay awake or to go to sleep.

Melanopsin clearly has a huge role to the sleep cycle and needs to be further researched on, for me.  Melanopsin gathering light for the brain to prcoess that it is still time to stay awake might be factor to why people are sleep deprived as they continue to work in areas that are well lit, also to avoid eye strain from working in the dark. This extended exposure to light could be a factor for people being able to stay active in the late night and leading to the person to be deprived of sleep.

Blog #2: Sleep Deprivation

 

"the sleep." by Moth art

Everyone says that sleeping for 8-10 hours is good for the body, anything less than eight can be harmful to the body. But what do you call these two things? They're called basal sleep need – The hours or duration of sleep needed by an individual – and sleep debt – The amount of sleep that an individual has deprived themselves of.

Basal sleep, according to Chis Adams in his article How Much Sleep Do You Need?: How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need?, is the amount of sleep needed for an individual to be physically and mentally fit. Meeting your basal sleep need also lets you be less groggy in the morning. Furthermore, Each age group, for people, is unique where infants have a basal sleep need of 12-18 hours and become less and less as the age goes higher where adults if 18 years and above need about 7-9 hours of sleep.

Adams also says that "...having an overtly long sleep schedule has shown an association with an increase in illness, accidents, depression and death." My opinion on the matter is that this may just be a symptom than a root cause of oversleeping — sleeping more than the basal sleep need. He continues to say that "...no definitive causal relationship has been shown and some sleep researchers believe the body will not let you sleep longer than you actually need."

The amount of sleep needed for a person to be fit does depend on their lifestyle, job and current health but the basal sleep need for a person can be different for another person. Two people of the same age, gender, and job can have different basal sleep needs independent of sleep debt; as stated by the National Sleep Foundation.

Sleep debt, in Molly Webster's article Can You Catch Up on Lost Sleep?, is the difference between the amount of sleep you should be getting and the amount you actually get. Sleep debt can also be accumulated unknowingly by the person. Webster comments on a 2005 survey shows that Americans on average are losing one hour of sleep every night; experts recommend 8 hours of sleep but, according to the survey, Americans sleep for 6.9 hours.

Webster states that Sleep debt as "...a deficit that grows every time we skim some extra minutes off our nightly slumber." although it is not proven that sleep debt and basal sleep need can be accurate down to the minute or by the hour on the dot. Most articles usually measure sleep and sleep debt in hours.

And in Webster's provided situation in her introduction, she said that the individual lost sleep during the week for a project due on Friday. Work and near coming deadlines are possible causes for a person to deprive themselves from sleep. Work can be a factor on why people do not get the right amount of sleep, where the time for when people go to bed is cut and thus have less time to have a complete and good quality of sleep.

Blog #1: The Benefits of Sleep

 

"Question Sleep" by Jhonen Vasquez

Everyone needs sleep. Sleep is necessary for a human being to function properly, just like eating and drinking. "Sleep" according to the Oxford English Dictionary is "A condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night..."

In Masaya Takashi's "Prioritizing Sleep for Halthy Work Schedule," during sleep,  a person recovers from fatigue. Having the right amount of sleep, and sleeping at the right time also affects the quality of sleep the person receives and thus affects how the person will perform while they're awake. Sleep deprived employees show to have lower performance levels in their workplace.

Takashi says that "Sleep-related benefits are particularly helpful for the working class…" As beneficial as it is for the working class. It is also beneficial for students as it is force the work force. And as Takashi said after listing various negative effects of sleep deprivation, "Despite the clear disadvantages as listed above, the value of sleep has been somehow neglected." Once again true also for students.

Of course, comparing sleep healthy people will show better results from sleep deprived people. It's like comparing people who are well fed from people who are hungry. But is there actually any benefit from sleep aside from avoiding sleep deprivation?

Jeffery M. Ellenbogen's "Cognitive Benefits of Sleep and Their Loss Due to Sleep Deprivation" states that there are benefits of sleep apart from avoiding sleep deprivation. He states that an experiment done by Walker et al. instructed a set of people and then have them execute said instructions 12 hours later. It showed that those who slept between the 12 hour gap performed better than the group who are not sleep deprived and stayed awake during the 12 hour gap. Again, this shows that there are actual benefits from sleep aside from sleep deprivstion.

In Ellenbogen's article he stated: "Instead of studying the negative consequences of sleep loss, these studies seek to understand the positive gains produced by sleep." This is an important step in seeking out the stand alone benefits of sleep apart from the consequences give from the lack of sleep.

Almost all people know the benefits of sleep from avoiding sleep deprivation or may not even know the stand alone benefits of sleep at all, but still choose to avoid or skip on the right amount of sleep needed for a person to stay healthy. The aim of this blog is to find out what are the causes of this lack of sleep or sleep deprivation among students.