It has come to my attention that I drift off behind the wheel dangerously often. On several occasions, my eyelids have snapped open as my friends nudged me and repeated my name to tell me the traffic light has turned green. As a busy young adult, my schedule seldom allows for me to get a sufficient amount of sleep. Clocking in three to four hours of sleep each night, on average, I am one of many college students who suffers from a sleeping disorder. I go through the day moody, with depleted energy levels and a very weak ability to focus. Young adults who have sleeping disorders suffer mentally, physically, and emotionally, now more than ever before in this country. 

Today, three to four million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, ten percent of Americans have chronic insomnia, and 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep or wakefulness disorders. Students make up the demographic most significantly affected by sleeping disorders and we see evidence of this epidemic happening every single day. Many of them already have commitments such as sports, clubs, jobs, studying, social events and other obligations to manage, which leaves sleep to often get neglected. Teenagers and twenty-somethings overbook themselves to keep up with the competitive resumes of their peers and fall into the vicious cycle of going to bed late. Unfortunately for these dedicated young people the school system is unforgiving of that. School start times are typically between seven-thirty and eight-thirty, which forces students to wake up early no matter what time they began sleeping, making it nearly impossible to meet the recommended eight hours (Troxel). It makes sense, then, that the U.S. National Library of Medicine reports 50 percent of college students suffer from daytime sleepiness and 70 percent attain insufficient sleep (Hershner). As a college student, when I look around I see almost all of my friends and classmates sipping coffee or caffeinated beverages throughout the day, not just in the morning. Some may argue that it is normal for an adult to enjoy a cup of coffee to start their day, which is absolutely fine. However, this excessive caffeine consumption extends long into the evening hours across campuses everywhere.

Groggily forcing themselves out of bed after a brief three or four hours of sleep, students turn to binge consumption of caffeine, bounce from activity to activity, rush to complete their assignments and fulfill social obligations into late hours in the evening, and then repeat the routine day after day. A study at Jawbone found that the night owl trait is linked to general intelligence which explains why it is so common at universities (Kamenetz). The same study recorded that on 46.2 percent of nights students, in the sample tested, got less than seven hours of sleep (Kamenetz). This habit forms even before students attend college, over 90 percent of high school students in America are chronically sleep deprived. More specifically, 20 percent get under five hours a night (Gregiore). To put this into perspective, in a team of five classmates working together, one of them is not going to be functioning at his or her full intellectual capacity. The work and dedication that this student has contributed to the group’s project will be less significant than that of each of his surrounding group members. The added stress and pressure of a sleep deprived student develops into a much more serious issue long term.

Sleep deprivation strains many different relationships including ones with the sufferer’s family. Parents tend to resort to taking away their children’s cell phones as a form of punishment. Interestingly enough, these parents are right about the root of the issue. Scientific research has proven that mental health problems can stem from mobile phone use. In a study of 4,156 young adults between the ages of 20 and 24, public health researchers decided to test the psychological effects of mobile phone exposure. They concluded that high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances as well as symptoms of depression, and overuse was associated with stress. These conclusions, in short, verify that excessive mobile phone is officially considered to be a risk factor for young adults (Thomeé). Participants in this study said the biggest causes of stress pertained to their accessibility. They worried that if they could not be reached, or neglected to respond to messages, they would be perceived as being rude or behaving socially incorrectly. This fear and guilt drove respondents to make themselves available at all hours, allowing their sleep cycles to be disturbed so they could return messages. Scientists and psychologists call this behavioral addiction. Additionally, exposure to electromagnetic fields has been determined to cause headaches, earaches, and warmth sensations. (Thomeé) 

Similar to cell phones, sleeping disorders alone do a lot of damage to the mental and emotional health of a young adult or adolescent. Developing brains suffer from irritability, depression, worsened mood, and declined attentiveness when not properly rested (Troxel). Together these disadvantages inhibit one’s ability to comprehend and process information. In 2010, insufficient sleep in adolescence was officially recognized by the American Medical Association as a serious health risk (Owens). Even a skeptic must admit that it is hard to deny the evidence of the significant impact sleep deficiency disorders pose. This is progress towards the research and attention this growing issue demands. The short-term effects of this issue have been studied and the most prominent outcomes are weakened memory, cognition, and motivation. These resulting symptoms have been proven to worsen over time (Kamenetz). Some of the long-term effects include higher risk of car crashes, delinquent behavior, depression, psychological stress, and increased risk of obesity (Owens). A study of 28,000 high schools found that each hour of lost sleep is associated with a 58 percent increase in suicide attempts (Gregiore). This tragic statistic is not the only shocking long-term result of insufficient sleep, however. Teenagers with sleep issues are 55 percent more likely to have used alcohol under the age of 21 (Troxel).  It makes sense that students would turn to depressants to counter act the excessive amounts of caffeine they consume during the day. 

All of this tampering with the natural human body is not healthy. Decreased sleep on its own damages the mental and physical health of the sufferer and it interferes with their receptiveness to vaccinations. Intrigued medical professionals decided to further their knowledge of the effectiveness of medications on people who suffer from sleep deficiency. A clinical health psychologist recently conducted an observational study to explore the impact of vaccines on people who sleep less. Scientists hypothesized that they may be less likely to benefit from a vaccine. In order to find out, they gave 125 healthy men and women the hepatitis B vaccination, and recorded the participants’ sleep. The researchers drew the participants’ blood after each shot and concluded that there was a statistically significant variance in the receptiveness of a person who attained the recommended amount of sleep and people who did not (Bakalar). Their hypothesis was correct: sleep duration influences how a person’s blood takes to the vaccine. This information is useful for people with sleep disorders to consider if they are about to go in to their doctor for a shot. They may need to take additional precautions to try to get more rest than usual so their vaccine works as well as it is intended to. Additionally, this can be added to the list of short-term effects as decreased receptiveness to vaccinations.

Another major consequence of sleeping disorders is drowsy driving. The National Sleep Foundation has found that self-reported drowsy driving has climbed from 51 percent in 2001 to 60 percent in 2005 (Colton). Records from 2017 show that nearly 110,000 injuries and 6,000 fatalities happen every year as a result of sleep related car crashes. Adolescents are affected by this statistic more than any other group (Colton). Teenagers in the United States drive everywhere, and the odds of a friend or loved one of a high school or college age student being involved in, or causing, a car accident is significantly higher because of this. Insurance companies recognize this trend, which is part of the reason car insurance for young people is so much more expensive. Not only does the amount of time this demographic spends on the road contribute to this, but the number of hours of commitments to school, activities, sports, jobs, and organizations they have keeps them up the latest. Specialists recommend nine hours and fifteen minutes of sleep each night for teenagers, although data shows they are only getting seven hours. After several consecutive nights of burning the midnight oil, it is very logical that these students become exhausted and groggy when driving. Studies show that driving while sleep deprived is the equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.07. 

The decreased ability to focus as a result of insufficient sleep affects other areas of life, too, particularly education. In 2010, insufficient sleep in adolescence was officially recognized by the American Medical Association as a serious health risk (Owens). Even a skeptic must admit that at this point it is hard to deny the evidence of the significant impact sleep deficiency disorders pose. This is progress towards the research and attention this growing issue demands. The short-term effects of this have been studied and the most prominent outcomes are weakened memory, cognition, and motivation. These resulting symptoms have been proven to worsen over time (Kamenetz). Some of the long-term effects include higher risk of car crashes, delinquent behavior, depression, psychological stress, and increased risk of obesity (Owens). 

A potential solution to get students an extra hour or so of sleep could be to start schools at a later time. If high schools and middle schools were required to start later, drop rates would decrease and safety would increase because the students would not need to risk drowsy driving. Unfortunately, the opposition suggests that the amount of work it would take to reschedule the bus routes and before or after school care would not be worth the benefits. The benefits that side is dismissing include: higher academic achievement, more pleasant attitudes, less substance use and depression, and fewer car accidents (Troxel). Adolescents require the most amount of sleep, yet the districts have timed it so elementary schools are starting the latest, and high schools are starting the earliest. A simple reverse in this schedule would be very rewarding to these developing students. 

An alternative solution to this issue, that is currently in progress, could be to allow physicians and doctors to prescribe sleeping pills to minors. The Food and Drug Administration has not yet made this a legal option in the United States, although it is being seriously considered. Mary A. Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital, stated in the New York Times that more tests need to be conducted investigating the benefits and consequences of prescribing adolescents sleeping pills as opposed to recommending over the counter treatments to them. Any debate that regards minors and substances is extremely controversial and has to go through a lot of scrutiny and research before approval. As of right now, prescriptions and prescription sleep aids have not been well studied in children (Duenwald). We do, however, know that 180,000 people under the age of twenty years old in the U.S. reported that they have taken sleeping pills in the year 2004 and most of them were at least 10 years of age. Researchers have also discovered, in the past fifteen years, that 16 to 29 year olds are currently the most sleep deprived demographic (Colton).

This information has led a number of physicians to very cautiously argue that it is alright to prescribe sleeping pills to children, under the condition that their disorder has been understood and diagnosed, so that they can attempt to battle insomnia. Other doctors are concerned that a large increase in sleeping pills prescribed to children may result from failure to thoroughly investigate the issue. Physicians look first for the root of the issue. They need to know if the issue stems from a medical problem so they can then decide if medication is truly necessary. A study of pediatricians found that drugs developed for high blood pressure, antianxiety, and antidepressants were the kinds children most frequently are prescribed because they have the ability to sedate (Duenwald).

For the time being, there is another solution sufferers are more in control of. While we aren’t entirely sure when prescribing sleeping pills to minors will become legal, if they ever do, anyone can control the amount of time they are spending on their devices. The studies previously discussed have shown how harmful cell phones and computers can be to the human sleep cycle, so reduced usage of those devices would certainly benefit them. If sufferers of sleeping disorders attempted to gradually reduce the amount of time they spend using their cell phones and computers each day, there is a possibility they will end up being a lot less stressed out and a lot more well-rested. 

An alternative to cutting back on cell phone time to get more sleep, could be another means of practicing self-control. Naturally, humans are wired to have difficulty exhibiting self-control and a group of researchers at the University of Kansas wanted to explore ways to increase people’s self-restraint. Because exercise is known to have considerable psychological effects they conducted an experiment this year that required the volunteers to fill out a survey about their self-control and then participate in a walking and jogging regimen. Each week the questionnaires were repeated and a month later they came back to be tested. 75 percent of the volunteers gained a substantial amount of self-control, while the 25 percent that did not had missed some of the sessions (Reynolds). Participants that stuck with the exercise routine began to exhibit more discipline in other areas of their life, and those results continued. Observed changes were found in their diets and work habits (Reynolds). Because people who had struggled to demonstrate self-control regarding their eating and exercise habits noticed improvement through routine and disciplined exercise, perhaps this strategy could be applied to a person who suffers from a sleep disorder.

In the past century Americans’ sleep has decreased by 20 percent. (Colton) Food, cars, technology, and tools have all evolved and developed to such an extreme in those past 100 years. All of those things work to convenience and enable us as individuals. While they were intended to make us more productive, they can sometimes serve the counter purpose of distracting us and making us lazier people. If people who lack self-control to refrain from using their phones and computers past a certain hour attempt this discipline by exercise theory they may find themselves sleeping earlier and longer. If any sufferer of a sleeping disorder attempts this, they have the possibility to kick the habit of falling asleep late at night.

Young adults in the United States are particularly known to suffer from sleep disorders in all areas of their life. Mentally, physically, and emotionally it takes a toll on their performance in activities they have committed to, deprives them of their brains full functionality, and strains their relationships. The causes have been primarily traced back to their schools’ pressures and start times, although technological and medical influences are also involved. Fortunately, solutions for this issue have recently begun developing such as better sleep aids for children, and more personal restraint with cell phones and the time they attempt to go to sleep. Hopefully in the future, young adults will have put this issue to bed.  
