Sadia Chowdhury  

Writing for the Sciences 213 

Scientific Controversy Paper  

 

           The Relationship Between Sleep Deprivation and Academic Performance  

Abstract: Sleep deprivation is very prevalent among people, especially students. Without sleep, the human body reacts negatively resulting in poor energy, exhaustion and hostile behavior that can cause tension in their lives. Sleep deprivation can also have negative health side effects that can cause harm in the long term. While this stays true, others may argue that that there are more positive effects of sleep deprivation such as high performance on tasks due to being resistant to fatigue and better attention span. 

Sleep is one of the most important aspect of an individual’s routine. Sleep is known as a way of recharging the human body to help them refresh from all the information that was gained in 24 hours. Humans typically require 8-9 hours of sleep for their bodies to completely feel energized. During these hours of sleep, the body relaxes to restore energy and store memories in the brain. There are also sleep disorders such insomnia and sleep apnea that are affected by sleep deprivation. Sleep is also crucial for humans to have a positive and happy attitude to help them get their work done during the day. People often even take naps during the day when there is more exhaustion. However, people who do not get enough sleep have possible negative effects on their daily life as well as their academic life. Sleep deprivation or sleep loss is a term for when an individual has trouble staying awake due to not being able to sleep at night. There is total sleep deprivation and partial sleep deprivation. Total sleep deprivation has higher damaging negative effects than partial sleep deprivation. Generally, when a person did not have enough sleep at night, they often feel fatigue or drowsiness potentially causing health problems. Therefore, fatigue and drowsiness make the person less likely to be able to perform well on any task they are expected to fulfill. A prime example would be driving because the chances of a sleep deprived person causing an accident is higher than a normal sleeper. Causes of sleep deprivation varies among individuals. Most common reasons are schoolwork, depression, high amount of screen time etc. that causes reduced melatonin production. Others may say that sleep deprivation also has positive effects such as high performance on tasks and better attention span. 

Sleep deprivation is prevalent mostly among college students because of academic pressure and workload to excel in pursuit of their careers. In a survey for college students, 71% of students reportedly did not achieve at least 8 hours of sleep and 60 % were poor sleepers (Patrick et al.). Assignments from college can be hectic which is why many students prefer to finish their work by sacrificing sleep time. Sleep deprivation is not only bad for academic performance but also can cause long term diseases. Our body require sleep to rest every part that helps us regain our energy. Failing to do so can cause chronic diseases, loss of memory and overall poor physical performance on all activities. In a study done by Cross Mark publishers, it was observed how students perform after staying up all night for college work. In this study, it was found that students who go through “all–nighters” do not have significant on cognitive ability but however they perform poorly in physical performance and activities. In order to cope with sleep deprivation students usually drink caffeinated drinks or alcohol to help them stay up and focus on college work. Studies have shown that college students depend so much on caffeine that that they often do not care about getting enough sleep because drinks will get them through to do their assignments. Students do not have enough sleep time because usually they are so stressed over assignments that even with sleep deprivation, they continue to work on college work. Pulling an “all– nighter” has been so common among students that sleep deprivation does not seem as negative. Not sleeping for a respectable number of hours can affect physical performance such as attention span, driving, playing sports and the ability to do well on an activity. sleep deprivation also has symptoms such as headache.  

There are many stages of sleep that is designated according to body’s needs such as NREM 1, NREM 2, NREM 3, and REM. Among these stages, the most important and longest stage is REM stage. During this stage, the brain becomes more active, relaxed and dreams occur. This stage is so crucial because it helps restores the energy the brain to function to its fullest. However, when an individual is sleep deprived, REM stage does not often occur because it requires a certain amount of time. If an individual does not sleep enough, they do not successfully go through the sleep cycle and therefore it affects negatively because the human body needs time to recollect. Sleep is also crucial for mental health because it helps cope with anxiety, depression, and overall behavior. Negative effects of sleep loss lead to aggressive behavior, hostility, anger issues, tension, mood swings and negative thoughts (Finan et al.). Sleep loss also affects working memory and decrease in attention. The hippocampus located in the brain works to store long term memories, however, if the brain does not gain resting hours then it will most likely be unable to function to its fullest. It becomes difficult to properly perform a task when the mind isn’t fully wake enough to be doing well in it. In a research done by Dovepress, it was measured to see effects of sleep loss on cognitive performance. The studies found that sleep deprivation can damage working memory, attention span and cause possible diseases. It also affects long-term memory and decision-making process. However, one of the limitations that was found was within the data of the influence of sleep loss on long term memory such as knowledge. The data lacked consistency in that part which is why it cannot be fully determined if sleep loss is essentially damaging for the long-term memory. Overall, the studies showed that there are various negative effects of sleep loss and sleep deprivation.  

While there are many negative effects of sleep deprivation, others might argue there are potential positive effects. In a study by Dongen and others in 2002, it was determined that not everyone have similar effects of sleep deprivation or fatigue. In the study, brain imaging was used for observation and one of the observations was that many can be resistant to fatigue. Therefore, fatigue resistant people tend to perform highly on tasks that they are assigned. Moreover, polyphasic sleep which requires short naps during the day rather than sleeping at night was recommended because it has proven to be effective for better attention span and high performance. It was also observed that one of the positive effects were high level of creativity and productivity. Additional positive effects that were found was that it helped with working memory because sleep deprived people are more aware than normal people (Patrick and staff). Overall, it has proven to enhance performance with high alertness due to lack of sleep.  

There are both positive and negative effects of sleep deprivation that varies among individuals. However, the negative effects are more likely to be common among majorities because of how prevalent sleep deprivation can be especially among college students. Daytime sleepiness causes lack of attention and inability to make proper decisions because the body lacks the restoration of energy that is meant to be gained through sleep. It also affects students in learning the material from class because their mind cannot focus on gaining new knowledge and processing as it requires energy and good attention span. Studies have also shown that people who typically get an 8-9 hours of sleep everyday have improved and higher performance throughout their day in any given task compared to sleep deprived people who do not show as much productivity or creativity in their regular tasks. They usually do their tasks in the most convenient way in order to be just done with it (Curcio et al.). 

 Overall sleep deprivation and academic performance are affected by one another because sleep allows the human body to restore new information, regain energy and feel more motivated to perform highly on any tasks given compared to the positive side effects where lack of sleep can also be a factor for high alertness. As much as the positive effects sound appealing, the negative effects can be damaging in the long run because of possible developing diseases that occur due to the body lacking production of melatonin.  

Page Break 

Work Cited Page 

Alhola, Paula, and Päivi Polo-Kantola. “Sleep Deprivation: Impact on Cognitive Performance.” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, Dove Medical Press, Oct. 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/.  

Curcio, Giuseppe, et al. “Sleep Loss, Learning Capacity and Academic Performance.” Science Direct, Elsevier B.V., Mar. 2006, www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S1087079205001231.  

Finan, Patrick H, et al. “Partial Sleep Deprivation Attenuates the Positive Affective System: Effects Across Multiple Measurement Modalities.” Sleep, Oxford University Press, 1 Jan. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6084750/.  

Patrick, Regina, and Sleep Review Staff. “When Too Little Sleep Is a Good Thing.” Sleep Review, Medqor, 3 Sept. 2005, www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-diagnostics/in-lab-tests/imaging-studies/when-too-little-sleep-is-a-good-thing/.  

Patrick, Yusuf, et al. “Efects of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive and Physical Performance in University Students.” Cross Mark, Sleep Biol. Rhythms, 13 Apr. 2017, web-b-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1.