When Worlds Collide, Research Paper Example

Sleep behaviors change over time as young children enter into advanced biological development levels caused by puberty. The article by Mary Carskadon attempts to analyze the causes for alteration of sleep behaviors and the impact of less or more sleep among young children and adolescents.  Furthermore, the author attempts to propose that the delay of sleep in adolescents is caused by behavioral and biological factors.  In summation, the author suggests that sleep reduction in adolescents is caused by biological processes colliding with the expectations and demands of the adult world.

To begin, Carskadon discussed a longitudinal study in the late 1970s by Stanford researchers that examined the sleep habits of children from early stages of development until they enter adolescence, requiring a 3-day analysis for five or six years.  It became evident upon closer evaluation that older students required fewer sleep hours to be able to function in their everyday lives.  Using the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT), the researchers also examined how sleepy children were after waking up in the morning.  Results showed that younger children awoke more alert than older children, despite having equal amounts of sleep among them. The author also examined many behavioral factors that led to a change in sleep behavior.  In younger children, the behaviors are pre-determined by parents requiring specific bed times. For older children, the required bed times may not be enforced or may be later in the night; while many adolescents reported needing to have an alarm clock or parent help them wake up.  Increased social opportunities, such as additional athletic requirements and new work schedules, also cause students to alter sleep patterns.  Students working 20 or more hours per week declared that work hours the number one cause of oversleeping and tardiness in school.

However, some scientists suggest that biological factors may impact the change in sleep patterns.  The biological circadian timing mechanism, or an internal clock, is produced through the brain that is believed to control when people sleep and for how long.  Studies were performed to analyze this concept by the amount and frequency of melatonin that is released by the circadian timing mechanism to help regulate times of sleep or alertness.  Sleep/wake homeostasis also can be considered to impact sleep behaviors because our biological factors emphasize that the longer we have been awake, the greater pressure there is for sleep, and vice versa. The studies performed by the author indicated that sleep/wake homeostasis provides alertness early in the day, while the circadian timing mechanism favors sleep.  The opposite effect occurs at night, with the circadian timing mechanism providing alertness and sleep/wake homeostasis pressuring for sleep.  This evidence supported the author’s claim that the behavioral factors collide with biological factors to caused reduced sleep patterns in adolescents.

A school transition project was utilized to observe the change in sleep behaviors between the spring of 9^th grade to the fall of 10^th grade.  An observation was taken for a two-week period for 25 adolescents that were fully pubescent or possibly biologically mature.  The studies indicated an increase in narcoleptic behavior without the existence of any disorder, where the student entered REM sleep before non-REM sleep.  The author noted the observation that through MSLT tests, the students’ brains were more apt to being asleep at 8:30 a.m. than they were to being alert and active.  This became strong evidence to support the author’s claim that schools should adjust to the needs of the adolescent, although a later school start time may only shift the circadian rhythms instead of actually solving the problem.

Final conclusions called for an increase in examination and research of sleep patterns and sleep inhibitor behaviors and factors to draw greater conclusions on the problems associated with accumulating enough sleep and how to solve them. The author declared that schools are faced with increased problems as they attempt to educate sleepy and inattentive adolescents.  Such problems could be somewhat alleviated with a later start time, but the author recognizes that most adolescents would only continue to stay up longer to watch television, surf the internet, or talk on the phone.  However, Caskadon makes the claim that the educational system cannot be immutable and must be able to adjust to the behaviors and sleep patterns of the students in order to ensure adequate learning and efficient educational practices are being performed, even if it only demands that schools increase their educational measure to teach students the importance of sleep in the short-term.  Nevertheless, the importance of sleep is very clear and it is important that further research and observations are performed to gain greater insight on the causes of sleep deprivation, behavioral and biological factors that impact sleep amounts, and suggestions to help solve the problems so that students are fully awake and attentive to learn in the classroom.

Works Cited

Carskadon, M.A. (1999). When worlds collide: adolescent need for sleep versus societal demands. Phi Delta Kappan, 348-353. Retrieved on October 1, 2009, from Fairfax County Public Schools Web site: http://www.fcps.edu/fts/taskforce07/documents/whenworldscollide.pdf