The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Stress - 1352 Words

Sleep is very important for proper human functioning. Sleep deprivation occurs the body does not get an adequate amount of sleep regularly. The lack of sleep can affect many aspects of life. This topic affects many Americans especially college students. American culture values being very busy and cramming in many activities to daily schedules in which often requires sacrificing sleep. Different age groups reactions to sleep deprivation was investigated. Physical effects of lack of sleep were examined by looking at the change in the level of alertness and ability to notice details. The effects of sleep deprivation on stress regulation, and emotional response were also tested. The effect of sleep loss was tested on different age groups.†¦show more content†¦Researchers found that older patients were less fatigued and reacting faster. They also experienced less unintentional sleep periods. Younger subjects had higher sleep efficiently and spent more time in deeper stages of sleep. This study showed that older adults were able to handle sleep deprivation better than younger adults. Also they were less likely to have attention failures. Further study would be useful in determining if adults over 75 would have similar results or have a higher chance of sleeper disorders and restlessness. More tests on this subject would also be helpful, considering the small sample size. Drummond, Anderson, Straus, Vogel, and Perez (2012) conducted a study to determine if there was a correlation or relationship between two different kinds of sleep deprivation on a person’s visual working memory capacity or filtering efficiency. Because it is common belief that lack of sleep has a negative effect on a person’s memory the researchers wanted to investigate to see if this idea was true and if so are specific functions affected differently. Forty-four healthy, well-rested, young adults (19-39) were assessed twice, once in a well-rested state and once after a specific amount of sleep deprivation. One group had only partial sleep deprivation, only four hours of sleep a night for four consecutive nights. The other group was subjected to one