Sleepless in Seattle: How Human Sleep Patterns Kept Me Up At Night

Abstract

There is a sleep deprivation epidemic in the United States, particularly amongst teens and young adults. During puberty, teens undergo biological changes to their circadian system that leads to a preference for later bedtimes and wake times. However, societal pressures for high school and college courses force these groups to wake early in the morning for classes. Caught between the biological drive for later bedtimes and social drive for early rise times, teens and young adults reduce their nightly sleep to unhealthy levels. Over time, sleep deprivation can have devastating effects ranging from unstable mood to impaired learning and memory. For my thesis, I examined the ways that sleep patterns affected lifestyle outcomes including academic performance, mood, daytime sleepiness, and other variables in two field studies of local populations: high school students from the Seattle School District and undergraduate students from the University of Washington.