Sleepless In America Essay Research Paper Sleepless

Sleepless In America Essay, Research Paper

Sleepless in America

Much like zombies, people of the United States roam the streets;

today s twenty-four hour society is starting to affect many. For most people

sleep has become a disposable commodity. Less than two percent of people

can function on a steady diet of five hours of sleep a night, but many people

try (Caldwell 57). More than 60 million Americans suffer from a severe lack

of sleep. Others that do not have a severe case of sleep deprivation still have

small cases of insomnia. Sleep deprivation is affecting various segments of

American society, including the workplace, schools and roads.

Sleep does not function as a voluntary act. In 1983, Alan

Rechtschaffen showed that going totally without sleep is fatal. He took a rat

and whenever it tried to sleep the floor moved and it had to walk, or it would

run into the wall. The rat soon lost a great deal of weight and died (Caldwell

20). It would take weeks to kill a person of sleep deprivation, but it would

eventually happen. The reason people need to sleep has not been discovered

by scientists. Scientists believe that sleep serves as time for the brain and

body to repair itself and recover the energy lost during the day. The true

reason for sleep is yet to be discovered.

During sleep, the brain goes through five stages. Stage one is light

sleep, and as a person moves through the other stages, sleep becomes deeper

as they reach stage four. The most important stage of sleep is the REM stage,

or rapid eye movement. It occurs after stage four, and lasts for about ten

minutes. The name REM, comes from the fluttery movements that the

eyeballs go through while in this period of sleep. During this stage, a person

is in the deepest period of rest. Although the body is in extreme relaxation,

the brain becomes very active, and dreams begin. The pulse and breathing

rate become irregular, and the levels of adrenal and sexual hormones in the

blood rise, as if a person were in the middle of an intensely emotional or

physical demanding activity. After REM sleep the body descends back to

stage four, but will return to REM sleep after 90 minutes The more REM

sleep a person gets during the night, the better he feels during the day. If a

person lowers his amount of REM sleep he will feel groggy and sleep

deprived the next day. Scientists have not discovered why humans need REM

sleep, but they hope to discover the reason in the future.

On average all people spend about one third of their lives asleep. This

means if a person lives to be 80, he or she will sleep about 27 years (Caldwell

57). To some night owls, the very idea of spending more than 20 years of

one s life in idle snoozing is appalling (Toufexis 78). People may wonder

how many hours of sleep they should be getting a night. There is no absolute

best amount of sleep, just as there is not a best weight or height (Dunkell 1).

There are three categories of sleepers: short sleepers, normal sleepers and

long sleepers. Short sleepers get six hours or less of sleep a night. Some even

sleep as little as three or four hours. Their sleep may be short, but it is also

efficient. Normal sleepers need at least seven to eight hours of sleep. Long

sleepers sleep nine hours or more each night and even need as many as ten to

twelve hours in order to feel refreshed and able to function well the next day.

Since there is such a variation in amounts of sleep people need, it is not good

to tell others they should get a specific amount, because everyone is different.

A person should sleep until they feel rested and ready to go.

Insomnia affects 40 percent of the American population. Ten percent of

people experience a chronic or severe form ( Sleep 1). There are three types

of insomnia: termination, maintenance and onset insomnia. A person with

termination insomnia wakes up in the middle of the night and can not fall

back asleep. Maintenance insomnia occurs when a person wakes up several

times during the night, for short periods of time and then falls back to sleep.

People who have onset insomnia have trouble falling asleep. Reports have

shown that people who suffer from onset insomnia fall to sleep at times as

late as 2 p.m. If anyone suffers from the symptoms of insomnia he should see

the doctor.

Dateline NBC states, Insomnia and sleep deprivation produces

mental and physical changes. These changes are significant threats to health

( Sleep 2). There are several signs of sleep deprivation. The first sign of

sleep loss is a bad mood. Small things seem to take more toll on a person s

feelings than they would if he or she were well rested. Sometimes it can be

hard to detect sleep deprivation, especially if a person suffers only three to

four hours of sleep loss in a one day period. The small signs are the

following: having to

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