The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Memory - Essay Example

? The effects of sleep deprivation on memory Task The effects of sleep deprivation on memory Sufficient sleep is one of the health recommendations; therefore, sleep denial has a number of negative on the general life of an individual. No matter the type of activity one is carrying, a recommended 8-hour sleep is appropriate. Lack of the sleep overworks the brain as the brain in the central coordination system of the body. For instance, a 16-18 year old will have a hard time remembering class and group discussions, due to insufficient sleep. If a survey of twenty-one students, gets carried out on the effects of sleep deprivation. It gets hypothesized that lack of sleep or sleep deprivation has diverse effects on people apart from the memory effects. It is from this perspective that the paper attempts to analyze the various effects of depriving one enough sleep. The sleep cycle has five stages, which must get completed for one to have a sufficient sleep. Stage one, involves glow sleep whereby the brain waves dawdle down from the work or activity engaged. This is the instance the body relaxes and needs no interference. Stage two of sleep induces slumber spindles and just like an engine of a ship, it works slower to get ready for the long rest. This is a stage where the brain starts to rest. Stage three of sleeping is a stage of profound sleep whereby delta influence appears with the person venturing into a deep sleep. This gets followed by deeper and deeper sleep where the person imagines many things (Killgore, Balkin & Wesenten, 2006). It is in this instance where a person can dream talk, walk and do all manner of strange things. At this stage, one is in the peak of sleep and any interference for a sick person can cause diverse effects on the person’s health. The last stage of the 8-hour sleep involves rapid eye movement in distinct wave patterns to mobilize the brain for other activities. In the process of waking up the a stages are visited one by one in reverse order back to stage two when the individual wakes up. When these stages are broken or interfered with memory loss occurs. This is a case scenario in young and school going children whom when not having enough sleep; lose interest in classes and concentration in class (Drummond, Paulus & Tapert, (2006). Missing enough sleep of the recommended time lead to accumulation of sleep resulting into sleep debt. Like a normal debt, it needs payment or the person owed at times employ measures to compensate for the debt. Research proves that missing sleep for two days results into a reaction of brain as if one has not slept for three nights. This is according to the third laws of linear motion, for every action there is equal and opposite reaction. The brain therefore will react in a way, which put the body susceptible for attack by other diseases (Killgore, Balkin & Wesenten, 2006). This also gets supported by a leading researcher and specialist Dr Van Dongen who also asserts that when one subject himself to sleep deprivation, worse repayment initiatives follow. According to him, sleep deprivation exhausted the brain subjecting one to too much tiredness. As much as people often do not realize how tired they are and would continue missing sleep, it is extremely dangerous to the memory. This is because it makes the brain less reactive and weakens it leading to other diverse thinking impairments. Such people portray absent-mindedness a factor which if not treated may lead to psychological problems. Apart from the memory loss linking diseases such as heart disease and obesity as the brain does not function efficiently (Engle-Friedman et al, 2003). Consequently lack of enough sleep retardates the memory leading to poor response to situations. This gets evidenced in the roads whereby repetitive accidents occur from drivers lacking enough sleep. This is the lack of coordination between the brain and other parts of the brain, which at time leads to impaired coordination. Fifty percent of people who cause accidents arise due to lack of enough sleep. According to research, depriving the brain enough sleep often causes the brain to impair memory-causing confusion when responding to emergencies. During accidents, for instance a person may step on the accelerator more before realizing it was a mistake to step on the brake (Ransdell, Barbier & Niit, 2006). Cognitive performance of the brain, in everyday life is dependent on the nature of sleep. Currently 20% of adults suffer from sleep related diseases evidenced b y the many mental cases in hospitals and streets. In adequate of sleep, increase human related errors, in nearly all cases involving applications of technology (Engle-Friedman et al, 2003). The parietal lobes of the brain are responsible to creating attention in people. However if one has little sleep the lesions of the parietal creates difficulty and incapacity to attend to situations. This is an example of effects on the brain which often makes people restless and in attentive. When in a profession such as accounting, mistakes are common occurrence due to non-attention, which at times land them in jail. Moreover, lack of sleep delays the rate of brain thinking which makes people have delayed understanding. People get identified by in exogenous reactions during discussions and conferences (Williams, Gieseking & Lubin, 1966). Such people burst with ideas in meetings after discussing an issue exhaustively. Last but importantly, incessant sleep restriction induces lack of functional magnetic resonance affects the brain reducing its speed of imaging. This is an instance, where a person frails to reflect on issues to remind or think of an event or a person. Such people do not only forget identity of close people, but also at times forget even important and relevant information. In conclusion, people rely on their own senses regulating how long and the nature of sleep to have. This gets done in many instances where a person decided to sleep for few hour and judges decisively and satisfactorily as having had enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is same as chronic pain, which if not resolved or treated in time have diverse effects. It is in this regards that as much as there are conditions which might prevent one from having enough sleep attempts are made to ensure in a day one has an 8 hour sleep. References Killgore, W. D., Balkin, T. J., Wesenten, N. J. (2006). Impaired decision making following 49 h of sleep deprivation. Journal of Sleep Research, 15, 7-13. Is a journal linking decision making to impaired judgment a factor linked to working of the brain. Is is a journal useful in the papera as the scope of the paper focuses on effects of sleep on the memory Engle-Friedman, M., Riela, S., Golan, R., Ventuneac, A., Davis, C. M., Jefferson, A. D., & Major, D. (2003). The effect of sleep loss on next day effort. Journal of Sleep Research, 12, 113-124. The journal is important as it linlks normal working to memory and finally to sleep deprivation. It stresses the effect of missing sleep on the previos day as it diverly affects the operation of the next day. Drummond, S. P., Paulus, M. P., Tapert, S. F. (2006). Effects of two nights sleep deprivation and two nights recovery sleep on response inhibition. Journal of Sleep Research, 15, 261-265. The journal uses inhibition as an example to link two case scenarios of losing sleep and their effects on the daily life activities of an individual. What happens when one misses sleep and recovers the same sleep in a different environment and how does it affect the memory. Williams, H. L., Gieseking, C. J., & Lubin, A. (1966). Some effects of sleep loss on memory. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 23, 1287-1293. The journal is important as it brings the effect of sleep loss on practical basis. It brings out sleep loss as the main contributor of non functionality in memory leading to failed motor skills. Ransdell, S., Barbier, M., & Niit, T. (2006). Metacognitions about language skill and working memory among monolingual and bilingual college students: When Does Multilingualism Matter? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(6), 728-741. It links deprivation of sleep to memory loss and finally to speech. This is an important journal for the paper as it provided a linkage proving the effect of sleep loss on memory a priority and leading point of discussion. Read More