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Catherine Anderson

Ingram

English 1103

October 17, 2012

3-Sided Assignment

Sleep is a common topic discussed amongst a wide variety of people. So many people are

involved in this discussion because sleep is something that every human has experience with. As

technology advances doctors, researchers, and others are becoming more capable of

understanding sleep and the affects it has on the human body. One group of people that are

deeply invested in this topic is psychologists. A psychologist is a professional who examines

mental processes and human behavior by observing, questioning, and interpreting actions. There

are many different types of psychologist; each type studies different processes within the human

mind and body. Those that are interested in sleep are typically cognitive and behavioral

psychologist. This means that they look at how sleep affects the brain and how a person interacts

with their environment.

According to a study done by the American Psychological Association, a lack of sleep

can put aperson at a greater risk for cognitive and emotional difficulties, poor school

performance, accidents and psychopathology (Carpenter) especially teenagers. Clinical

psychologists Amy R. Wolfson and Mary A. Carskadon found that both the amount of sleep a

student gets and the time they go to sleep have an effect on their grades in school. The difference

between a student getting Cs and Ds or As and Bs can be attributed a mere 25 minutes of

sleep (Carpenter). These psychologists have found that students that make good grades often

only get about half an hour more of sleep than those that perform poorly in school. They are

concerned with how a lack of sleep affects their emotional stability and cognitive behavior. With

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such a great amount of research proving that a lack of sleep negatively affects students, many

psychologists would like to see schools push their starting time back. Ideally, this time would be

no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Another group of people that are invested in the topic of sleep and how it affects the

human body is polysomnographic technologist (AAST). Unlike psychologists, who usually

examine one effect a lack of sleep has on the body, polysomnographic technologists look at

many different effects at one time. Often, these technologists perform overnight sleep studies in

order diagnose and treat sleeping disorders (AAST). However, they also perform similar studies

on ordinary people. They compare the two groups of people in order to see how much sleep and

the quality of sleep affects a person on a day-to-day basis.

Polysomnographic technologist look at how sleep affects the body by performing test on

people whose sleep has been restricted. The amount of sleep patients get may vary from three to

six hours. The tests performed are used to measure balance, reaction time, motor skills, and

emotional stability. It has been proven many times that losing sleep has a negative and

sometimes dangerous effect on all of these categories. They can compare these result to other

dangerous activities such as drinking alcohol (Feyer). This answers the question, How does

sleep affect school performance? in a different way. By showing the dangers of losing sleep,

like how it is a leading cause of vehicle accidents, people can see how sleep affects the body on a

much larger scale. This group of people is generally concerned with how one topic, in this case

sleep, can affect society as a whole as opposed to focusing on the individual.

The last group of people talking about how sleep can affect school performance is

students. The American Thoracic society is an organization that wants to improve the worlds

health by advancing research in the fields of, critical illness, respiratory disease, and sleep

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disorders. According to a study performed in 2007, many students say they do not get enough

sleep and that they have trouble in school (Start School Later). When looking at students

performance in school, test and research may not be the best way in uncovering information. The

best way to see how sleep affects school performance is to directly ask the students. Students

give direct and honest feedback on how they personally feel and perform when they do not get

enough sleep. This will also show how sleep affects individuals differently; some students may

thrive on less sleep and others may struggle.

Sleep is not a very controversial topic; most people agree that losing sleep will have a

negative effect on the human body. The three groups of people that have been previously

mentioned all agree that sleep effects apersons performance, the difference in what they are

saying comes from what exactly they are focusing on. The first group, psychologists are

concerned with how a lack of sleep changes the way people interact with their environment and

why. They are interested in what causes a change in behavior. Those that study sleep are often

absorbed in how sleep can affect society as a whole. They want to know what dangers losing

sleep can cause large groups of people. Lastly, students are simply worried about of getting so

little sleep can affect their performance in things like school and sports. Since scientist and

researchers are still unaware of why humans sleep, it is hard to say what exactly makes losing

sleep so harmful to the body.

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Works Cited

AAST. What is a Sleep Technologist?American Association of Sleep Technologist. Web.

October 6, 2012.

Carpenter, Siri.Monitor on Psychology. Volume 32, No. 9. American Psychological Association.

October 2001. Web. October 12, 2012.

Feyer, Anne-Marie, Williamson, A.M. Moderate Sleep Deprivation Produces Impairments in

Cognitive and Motor Performance Equivalent to Legally Prescribed Levels of alcohol

Intoxication.MBJ. June 15, 2000. WEB. September 26, 2012

Start School Later In the Morning, say Sleepy Teens. Phsys.Org. American Thoracic Society,

May 20. 2007. Web. October 12, 2012.