Sleep Satisfaction

 Shawn Orlowski

Every now and then, we have those days where we might not sleep much. For some, that may just be the way that you

make yourself function most of the days of the week. However, maybe you should think twice about the risk you might want to take.

Throughout our day, some of us like to spend as much time as we can awake. Whether that is working all day and

trying to make up for the time you have lost, staying up late to complete homework, or just scrolling through Tik-Tok,

Instagram, Twitter, or some other sort of social media. It is easy to lose track of time or throw some time of your day

out the window, but it can affect you more than you think.

In the moment you stay up late or reduce the amount of sleep you get for whatever the reason might be, you possibly

get a sense of achievement from completing what you needed to get done. In the moment, completing what you need

or want can be really rewarding, but then you realize how you may feel the next day, or in school, while driving, or doing

anything else the next day. After reducing the amount of time you sleep, you begin to feel how much it affects you once

your sleep schedule is changed.

Daily, our bodies should receive around eight to ten hours of sleep for us teenagers. Over the course of our sleep,

our body needs to overcome a process called sleep homeostasis. The process is of your body making sure there is a

balance between the glycogen levels that help store energy in the brain, and adenosine which helps us sleep and restore

the lost glycogen in our bodies. When that process is interrupted, it can cause a change in how you feel and change your

susceptibility to risks. Reduced sleep leads to excessive sleepiness during the day, lack of alertness, relationship stress,

impaired memory, and a greater likelihood for car crashes. According to the Cleveland Clinic, other serious issues you

may face include; high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Or it can be more along the lines of

obesity, depression, impairment in immunity and lower sex drive.

Debating whether or not you should get the necessary amount of sleep should not be a hard decision. When you get

those eight, nine, or ten hours of sleep, your body is able to properly function the next day from returning to

homeostasis after functioning from the day before. However, when that process is interrupted we face the consequences of

that choice. Next time you procrastinate whether or not you want to cut some time out of your sleep to do something else,

think about your options. Either option one, get more sleep, feel good for tomorrow, and manage your time differently, or option

two, get less sleep and increase your risks of severe health problems. Therefore, the better tradeoff you should consider is

getting more sleep.

Works Cited

Daniel Pacheco, Dr. Anis Rahmen. “How Sleep Satisfaction Can Affect Energy Levels.” Sleep Foundation, 8 Jan. 2021, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/sleep-satisfaction-and-energy-levels. 

Team, Brain and Spine. “Here's What Happens When You Don't Get Enough Sleep (and How Much You Really Need a Night).” Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, 27 Aug. 2021, health.clevelandclinic.org/happens-body-dont-get-enough-sleep/.