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HRE 101-16
TA
April 14, 2008
Sleep Deprivation: Formal Essay
What Sleep Deprivation Is
Sleep deprivation could mean lack of sleep or poor mental state, but the dictionary
definition for sleep deprivation is the lack of the necessary sleep your body needs to function
properly in a day. This can occur due to sleep disorders, too active with insufficient rest, or
deliberately doing so for interrogation or torture (NA par. 1). Specifically, sleep deprivation is
when you do not allow your brain to get enough rest to recover from the day before to tackle the
day to come. In fact, when you sleep, your brain wants to hit the R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement)
sleep. This allows your brain to put your body in cruise control so your brain can get sufficient
sleep. This takes up about 20- 25% of the total sleep, lasting a total of between 90- 120 minutes
and is usually experienced 4-5 times a night (NA par. 1). Without your brain hitting the R.E.M.
sleep, the rest the night before is for your body, but not for your brain.
Effects: What Happens When They Do It
Sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your health in both a physical and a mental
way. Without enough rest, our ability to think, to handle stress, to maintain a healthy immune
system and to moderate our emotions is weekend. In fact, sleep is so important to our overall
health that if your body does not get any rest it is proven to be fatal (NA par. 1). Without enough

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rest, the brain's ability to function quickly deteriorates. The brain works harder to counteract
sleep deprivation effects, but operates less effectively which in turn, causes, your concentration
levels to drop, and memory to become impaired. Similarly, the brain's ability to problem solve
also begins to deteriorate. Decision-making abilities become harder because and the brain falls
into rigid thought patterns that make it difficult to generate new problem-solving ideas (NA
par. 3). Insufficient rest can also cause people to have hallucinations. Other typical effects of
sleep deprivation include: depression, heart disease, hypertension, irritability, slower reaction
times, slurred speech, or tremors (NA par. 3). The effects of sleep deprivation can be from mild,
such as headaches, tiredness, or nausea to extreme, such as Insomnia, Micro sleep, Narcolepsy,
or Polyphasic sleep. The extreme effects of sleep deprivation can have a very grave impact on
your life.
Firstly, Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent
difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity (NA par. 1). This can be
caused by a poor quality or quantity of sleep. This is a fairly common symptom in the United
States of America. In 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 64
million Americans had this symptom and that it was one and a half times more common in
women than men (NA par. 2). Secondly, Micro Sleep is an episode of sleep which may last for a
fraction of a second or up to thirty seconds (NA par. 1). This could occur at anytime without any
warning. This may be extremely dangerous if it occurs in a place that requires great mental
alertness, for example driving a car or working heavy machinery. One study at the University of
Iowa stated that micro sleep in a car can last between 3-14 seconds which could spell disaster for
other drivers (NA par. 3). Another factor that can be caused by sleep deprivation is Narcolepsy.
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, characterized by overwhelming daytime drowsiness and

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sudden attacks of sleep (NA par. 1). This condition could be seen as daytime sleepiness, where a
person falls asleep in the day at wrong times due to over tiredness. Finally, Polyphasic Sleep is
the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour periodusually, more than two, and does
not imply any particular schedule (NA par. 1). This type of sleep symptom is found in people
who do not sleep at a specific time, but whenever they feel they should.
In conclusion, you can see how sleep patterns and sleep deprivation can affect you both
physically and mentally. Physically you may feel depression, heart disease, hypertension,
irritability, slower reaction times, slurred speech, or tremors and mentally you may come down
with one of many symptoms such as, Insomnia, Micro sleep, Narcolepsy, or Polyphasic sleep. In
the long run, sleep deprivation can be fatal, so it is important to set a schedule of rest for your
body to help relax your mind.

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Work Cited

NA. Insomnia. 13 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia >.
NA. Micro Sleep. 13 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsleep >.
NA. Narcolepsy. 13 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcolepsy >.
NA. Polyphasic Sleep. 13 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep >.
NA. Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. 12 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M._sleep>.
NA. Sleep Deprivation. 12 April 2009. Wikipedia. 11 April 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation>.
NA. The Effects of Sleep Deprivation. 13 February 2009. Sleep Deprivation. 11 April 2009
<http://www.sleep-deprivation.com/articles/effects-of-sleep-deprivation/ >.

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(NA, Sleep Deprivation)

(NA, Rapid Eye Movement Sleep)
(NA, The Effects of Sleep Deprivation)
(NA, Insomnia)
(NA, Micro Sleep)
(NA, Narcolepsy)
(NA, Polyphasic Sleep)