Effects On Teenagers

Relationships

When people are sleepy, they are more inclined to overreact to events causing, "more conflict and less satisfying relationships" says Jennifer L. Martin, a clinical psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine specialist at UCLA
Faith Orchard, a psychologist at the University of Sussex says, “A deficit of sleep has well-established negative effects on us, including a tendency to withdraw from friends and family, a lack of motivation, and increased irritability, all of which can affect the quality of a person's relationships, putting them at greater risk of depression.”

Physical and Mental Health

Healthline Medical Journal found that sleep deprivation prevents the immune system from synthesizing antibodies and cytokines which help you fight illnesses
A Cleveland Clinic article describes how not getting enough sleep has negative effects on the circulatory system, metabolic systems, immune system, and nervous system
Insufficient sleep can "age the brain by 3-5 years" finds Johns Hopkins sleep researcher Patrick Finan, PhD.
The American Academy of Sleep and the Sleep Research Society discovered that sleeping less than 7 hours a day increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and mental illness

Academic Performance

The National Library of Medicine found that lack of sleep can cause lower GPAs, which leaves students at a much greater risk for academic failure and can lower students' chances of getting into colleges
Stanford Medicine discovered that a lack of sleep can be detrimental to one's focus during class time, and that drowsiness in the morning leads to more student accidents on the way to school.

Students At Ridge

Questions were asked about how sleep deprivation affects students' daily lives.

The answers were disheartening.

"With balancing all of my extracurriculars and APs I found myself falling asleep in almost all my classes every other day. One class gives us a nap time/study hall once a month and it helps a lot with catching up."

- 11th Grade Student

"Usually when I get less than 3-4 hours of sleep a day for multiple days consecutively, I can't think, get very cold, and am highly irritable. But caffeine offsets the effects."

- Junior Class Student President

"I haven't gone a day without getting more than 3 hours of sleep unless it is a Saturday. I'm really trying my best. I cancel plans with hanging out with friends on Saturdays simply to sleep and get extra hours."

- Junior Class Vice President