The recommended amount of sleep teenagers are supposed to have each and every night, is 8-10 hours. But is that really how much teens are really getting? A study by the CDC has shown that about 69% of teens get less than 8 hours of sleep on a 24 hour basis. This is because of early school times and an excess of homework along with other activities to do. The recommended time for high schools by the America Academy of Pediatrics to start in America is 8:30am, but a study conducted by the CDC is that over 85% of high schools start before that time. So because of this, many schools have been forced to push their school times later than that.

Is there really a danger to sleep deprivation some may ask? Well their have been many studies conducted about the dangers of sleep deprivation in teens. Schools have found there to be bad grades among the students who have had less than 8 hours of sleep compared to those that have slept for 8 hours or more. Also according to a study which is one of many conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows there are more than 100,000 car crashes that occur as a result of drowsiness or fatigue and over half of those are caused by teens. Now they are even more teens becoming drivers every year and so we won’t be seeing that number go down anytime soon.

 

Now you may think this is only a problem in America. If so, then news flash, its not. Even in other countries, there are many students that also facing this problem too. In Canada one in three children face sleep deprivation. Insufficient amounts of sleep leads to reduced academic achievement, school activity, and physical activity. So there is a push for the students in Canada to have pushed back school times.

Many people are also affected by sleep deprivation too. There are many adults too that can get sleep deprived. Jobs and families to take care of are just a tiny glimpse of things to take care in the day everyday is what causes many to be sleep deprived. Have you ever wondered if you have sleep deprivation. If so here are some of many symptoms.

1) Anger

2) Fatigue

3)Weight Gain

4)Anxiety

5)Stress

Etc…

Questions

What is your viewpoint of pushing the school times back to prevent sleep deprivation?

Do you think it is a teen’s fault to be sleep deprived? WHY?

Are you sleep deprived? If so why?