Connie Goldsmith - Running on Empty: Sleeplessness in American Teens

Our sleeping time is as valuable a commodity as the time we are awake. Getting the right amount of sleep enhances the quality of every minute we spend with our eyes open.

Arianna Huffington, author and journalist, 2017

D id you wake up tired and grumpy this morning? Barely make it to school? Fall asleep during fifth period? If so, you might be underslept. That means you didnt get as much sleep as you need, and youre walking around feeling really tired. Youre not alone. Each night millions of Americans also experience sleep deprivation. They have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Lack of sleep affects teens even more than it affects adults because teens actually require more hours of sleep than adults do. Without adequate sleep, more than one-fourth of teens say theyve fallen asleep at school. Lack of sleep can affect school and social life and can lead to unsafe driving practices.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US government organization responsible for monitoring health, considers sleep disorders such as insomnia a public health epidemic because they affect so many Americans. Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by an inability to get enough sleep. Insomnia can lead to sleep deprivation, but sleep deprivation can also be caused by choices a person makes, such as staying up late studying for a test. When you do that, you dont necessarily have insomnia, but you are sleep deprived.

Sleep deprivation can lead to poor performance during the day, especially at school or work. Inadequate sleep for any reason also leads to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and stress. And for a few people, not getting enough sleep can be downright dangerous. People may have serious car accidents if they drive while drowsy. Just like driving while drunk, drowsiness slows reaction time and leads to poor decision-making on the road. The National Safety Council estimates that drivers under the age of twenty-five are involved in at least 50 percent of the estimated six thousand fatal crashes each year related to drowsy driving.

Lack of sleep can lead to medical issues such as heart problems, diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure. Insufficient sleep is suspected of being an early sign of Alzheimers diseasea brain disease that leads to memory loss and dementia that is ultimately fatal. Sleep deprivation can even cause sleepwalking with fatal consequences, such as driving a car off a bridge or falling down the stairs.

We all need to make sleep a priority in our lives according to Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler, a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Healthy sleep is essential for physical health, mental well-being, and personal and public safety, he said. Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury, and the promotion of healthy sleep should be a fundamental public health priority.

While most teens have no trouble falling asleep, just over 60 percent feel they are not really rested some or most days.

Lucretia King, a senior at Redwood High School in Larkspur, California, knows a lot about insomnia. Shes suffered from it since the seventh grade and only manages to get four to five hours of sleep each night. Shes tired most of the time, and her grades have slipped from As and Bs to Bs and Cs. When King spoke to her school newspaper for an article about insomnia, she said that she often cant remember names or memorize the information she needs to know for class. Its very difficult [to stay focused in class]. Ill start thinking about things because I cant focus on the teachers, King says. [Insomnia] makes me crankier than I should be at this age, and more irritated. I also dont have a big tolerance with people when theyre annoying, which is a problem. I have a bad short term memory, which I believe comes from not sleeping.