Improving Sleeping Quality - Case Study Example

Improving Sleeping Quality: Case 02 - Peggy

Introduction

Sleep is a necessary biological process that every person needs to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is important for effective brain functioning because it facilitates people to work optimally, aiding all the cognitive functions such as sleep, memory, learning, and critical thinking, learning. This makes sleep particularly essential for every student’s academic life. Research has proven that most people do get adequate sleep to function well, particularly college students. Research further demonstrates that deprivation of sleep or total lack of it is a good reason that students perform poorly in class besides stress which is a contributing factor to poor sleep quality. Since sleep is important to sustain life, however; sleep affects people differently based on their sleep timetable. College students are always busy with their studies such that they deprive themselves to sleep. Although sleep is a necessity, it can be detrimental if not adequately obtained; depreciation in everyday functioning can have a negative outcome on the performance every day processes in the body. When a person regularly experiences poor sleeping behavior, it could have a deleterious health effect. It is crucial since it has a decisive function in mental health and quality of life. However, irrespective of the intention for one to not get an adequate amount of sleep it is important for college students to have an adequate amount to avoid a decrease in their ability to memorize and think critically. This paper examines the case of Peggy by discussing the possible reasons behind her poor sleeping quality and ways she can try and improve it. As such, poor sleeping quality adversely affects the brain and cognitive function and also causes daytime sleepiness, memory lapses, and fatigue, which make the students incapable of focusing in class.

Literature Overview

Theoretical Foundation

Studies have established that poor sleeping quality and total sleep deprivation negatively affects a person’s filtering abilities. Many studies have concluded that the lack of sleep can have harmful psychological and physical effects, and getting sufficient sleep every night makes a person function normally and effectively. As the sleeping quality declines, their working memory begins deteriorating (McCubbin et al., 2012).Without sleep, the brain does not function properly, concentration, decision-making, problem-solving, and memory gets affected. All skills needed to study and work start declining. Therefore, while people deny themselves sleep, a variation exists in the endocrine and neurophysiological systems, making all practiced and learned events throughout the length of poor sleep dormant.

Causes of Sleep Deprivation

Poor sleeping quality adversely affects the brain and cognitive function and also causes daytime sleepiness, memory lapses, and fatigue, which make the students incapable of focusing in class. Many researchers have concentrated on various features of the individual’s cognitive abilities in many different populations of sleep deprivation and its outcome whether in memory, mood, mental, and general health. Sleep is an essential part of life, and without it, the body lacks the energy it requires to function. Many people do not get the amount of sleep they need because there is not enough time during the day or due to medical reasons (McCubbin et al., 2012). Whichever the case, sleep deprivation is a major problem faced by the society. People that lack enough sleep finally end up suffering serious consequences.

Sleep deprivation has many negative outcomes such as the ones exhibited by Peggy which include a decline in academic work, feeling sleepy during the day, emotional instability, and medical conditions. Lack of sleep causes various problems during the day because when they do not sleep at night, they are more likely to sleep during the day. As a result, performances of daily tasks such as school work. The causes of sleep quality and deprivation are numerous. If an individual has a sleeping disorder, it is probably that he/she becomes sleep deprived; the difficulty is in diagnosing the exact disorder the person suffers from to assist in receiving enough sleep. Peggy is suffering from Insomnia since it causes her to lack sleep, causing her to be awake all night, unable to get sleep, and always waking during the night. People usually suffer from narcolepsy, sleepwalking, apnea, and sleepwalking, and these could stop them from getting enough sleep schedules every night.

Empirical studies conducted by researchers such as Hershner and Chervin (2014) on diagnosable sleep disorders, observe that schedules set by public schools and colleges like in Peggy’s case are partially the reason why students are being affected by sleep deprivation. With busy morning and evening class timetables coupled with increasing workloads at home, their everyday rhythms can end up affected, triggering an insufficient sleep cycle (Hershner & Chervin, 2014). Another cause of poor sleep is when a person makes professional and personal commitments above that of what is practically accomplished. For example in Peggy’s case, different school activities can lead students to go long periods without enough sleep periods each night, for example; during examination time.

Other causes of the occurrence of sleep deprivation in college students include various modes of stress affect the everyday sleep rhythms of the students. Of the modes of stress, school and work stress are the most prevalent. A working student can experience stress from combining school with work by working extra hard at their job, and later do homework or study until the morning (McCubbin et al., 2012). Students who do not work can also experience similar stresses as they spend extra time procrastinating and have to spend more time studying until morning.

Effects of Poor Sleep Quality

Failure to get adequate sleep can lead to harmful outcomes on the cognitive abilities. When an individual does not get adequate sleep, the literature shows that his/her memory, learning skills, problem-solving and attention skills are mostly affected. Poor sleep quality also causes daytime sleepiness. According to McCubbin et al. (2012), victims of poor sleeping quality will possibly have cognitive ability issues such as problem-solving skills and memory. When one lacks sleep during the night, he/she ends up falling asleep during class or work. On the next night, after sleeping all day, it is difficult for the person to fall asleep again. Sleep deprivation does cause not only emotional and mental problems but also serious medical repercussions for those who lack sleep.

Improving Poor Sleeping Quality

There are several ways Peggy can improve her poor sleep qualities and sleep deprivation and return to normal functioning at a suitable efficiency. There are many treatments that Peggy can use which have been tested. Peggy can try acupuncture technique which is an effective strategy, and more research is being conducted to discover its true potential (Yuan-Fang et al., 2013). Another aid to overcome sleep deprivation is using natural sleep aids. Some of these aids include Valerian root that relieves tension and eases muscle and nerve tension. Kava-kava is also another natural herbal remedy that enhances dreaming by relaxing the body. There are various natural medications that aid in releasing Tryptophan and Melatonin which are natural body chemicals help in healthy sleep Peggy can use stimulants to keep her awake during the day (Yuan-Fang et al., 2013). For example, if she orally ingests 20mg of d-amphetamines, she can return to her previous cognitive state before being sleep deprived, enabling an improvement in logical reasoning responsibilities. It has been thought that nicotine can help in the enhancement and retention of cognitive abilities when the person has poor sleep qualities or is sleep deprived, since it is a stimulant, however, no positive outcome is witnessed on the brain’s functioning because of its inability to improve sleeping potential.

Conclusion

Poor sleeping quality adversely affects the brain and cognitive function and also causes daytime sleepiness, memory lapses, and fatigue, which make the students incapable of focusing in class. Many researchers have concentrated on various features of the individual’s cognitive abilities in many different populations of sleep deprivation and its outcome whether in memory, mood, mental, and general health. Sleep is an essential part of life, and without it, the body lacks the energy it requires to function. Many people do not get the amount of sleep they need because there is not enough time during the day or due to medical reasons. Whichever the case, sleep deprivation is a major problem faced by the society. People that lack enough sleep finally end up suffering serious consequences. Sleep deprivation has many negative outcomes which include a decline in academic work, emotional instability, medical conditions, and serious weight changes. Lack of sleep causes various problems during the day because when they do not sleep at night, they are more likely to sleep during the day. As a result, the performance of daily tasks such as school work suffers as well. Without sleep, the brain does not function properly, concentration, decision-making, problem-solving, and memory gets affected. All skills needed to study and work start to decline. Once a person begins to suffer from sleep deprivation, it becomes hard to break the cycle. When one lacks sleep during the night, he/she ends up falling asleep during class or work. On the next night, after sleeping all day, it is difficult for the person to fall asleep again. Sleep deprivation does cause not only emotional and mental problems but also serious medical repercussions for those who lack sleep. Sleep has a decisive role in mental health and quality of life. It is important for people to understand that sleep deprivation is a serious global problem and can cause harmful effects. More research is being conducted to investigate further the causes and impacts of sleep deprivation, and it is crucial for all to understand the threats and assist individuals such as Peggy.