Sleep by Nick Cardenas

            According to William Dement (1999), a professor at Harvard University, the typical individual after the age of eighteen should sleep 7.5 to 8.5 hours a night. Hypothetically, a days length is meant to be divided into three sectors: eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for leisure and miscellaneous.  However, not every individual is blessed with the ability to divide his or her days into those three sectors. For example, I personally believe individuals who belong to low socioeconomic classes suffer from sleep deprivation due to imperative responsibilities other than sleeping. Those less fortunate perceive sleeping as a luxury because they must attend school, work and provide for other personal needs and responsibilities. Therefore, those individuals lack sleep to accomplish daily necessities in order to survive. Nevertheless, sleep deprivation doesn’t define individuals as fatigued and drained; it defines them not entirely functional. Therefore, not only are those less fortunate fatigued and exhausted, they are limited and restrained from their full potential. I strongly believe those in lower socioeconomic classes suffer most from sleep deprivation which limits them in the future.

            Nirav Patel, Michael Grandner, Xie Dawei, Charles Branas and Nalak Gooneratne (2010) conducted a study that supports my thesis of sleep deprivation within the unfortunate. The data was collected through the use of self-report surveys in which 9,714 participants were randomly selected and used to discover sleep quality. The overall results showed a significant difference in sleep deprivation between ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. Latinos and African Americans significantly showed to suffer more of sleep deprivation than Whites and non-poor group members (2010). As direct as it is, this study supports my belief that non-rich and non-white individuals are more likely to suffer of poor sleep quality. However, there could be thousands of factors that could lead to this result.

In a meta-analysis by Allen Huffcut and June Pilcher, the researchers compared and described the effects of sleep deprivation through nineteen different research studies.  Huffcut and Pitcher (1996) concluded that sleep deprivation strongly impacts the overall functioning of a human being. Most importantly, both researchers finalized and found that mood is beyond affected by sleep deprivation rather than cognitive or motor performance. For instance, most people are called “crabby” or “grumpy” when they are tired and this is because sleep deprivation mainly affects their mood. Which could possibly limit interactions with others. It is quite normal for one to become irritated and annoyed by simple tasks or behaviors when sleep deprived. Which could also possibly limit the amount of opportunities to enhance themselves. In addition, Huffcut and Pitcher (1996) also concluded that partial sleep deprivation has a stronger effect on functioning than long or short-term deprivation.  As mentioned in Dements’ article (1999) by Dr. Landrigan, “Many people routinely get six hours of sleep each night, but only a few of those people can perform well with that little sleep” (Dement, 1999). Overall, in research study by Huffcut and Pitcher (1996) they concluded that sleep deprivation does impair human functioning. Overall, sleep deprivation hinders those to interact or take on more opportunities since they are exhausted and drained. In the case of lower socioeconomic individuals who are trying to improve themselves to provide a better future for their families, are pretty much limited since they cannot perform to their full potential. Such limitation is what can lead to social reproduction and lack of social mobility.

Some individuals will try to substitute sleeping with the consumption of energy drinks. Nevertheless, it only causes an even bigger concern. Michael Stasio, Kim Curry, Alexandra Wagener and Destinee Glassman (2011) mentioned “As predicted, findings indicated that as frequency of energy drink use increased, experiences of anxiety and sleep disturbances also increased significant” (Stasio et al., 2011). Stasio & et al (2011) mainly focused on college students and their behaviors with energy drinks. They too collected data through the use of surveys and found out that the consumption of energy drinks leads to weakness, fatigue and also anxiety. However, we all have known that caffeine will lead to a crashing point where the individual will experience more exhaustiveness. Nevertheless, this study also found that anxiety and sleep problems caused by energy drinks are linked to depressed mood states. According to Leeana Aarthi Bagwath Persad (2011), caffeine in energy drinks cause more disadvantages than advantages. Much like Stasio & et al (2011), Persad (2011) also found that energy drinks cause anxiety and panic attacks along with hallucinations and learning impairments (Persad, 2011). One then becomes dependent on caffeine and begins to abuse such energy drinks. Patel et al, (2011) mention the ill are believed to receive less sleep and poor sleep quality due to discomfort and inability to rest. Poor health due to the consumption of energy drinks could be a factor why lower socioeconomic individuals do not attain adequate sleep. As I mentioned in my thesis, those who suffer from poor sleep quality cannot act upon their full potential which limits them to success. Now, if one substitutes sleep with energy drinks, then it leads to a bigger concern of health issues, which then later on limits the success of the individual. 

A teammate of mine is a prime example of a victim of sleep deprivation. He was a collegiate athlete, a college student, and a full-time employee. He did not sleep; he napped multiple times throughout the day for short periods. Soccer practice began everyday at seven in the morning. However, we had to be there 30 minutes ahead of time to be ready and dressed. After practice, he had class from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. He worked the night shift at his job from 8:30 at night until 5:30 in the morning. Hence, he had four and half hours to do his homework, get ready for work, drive to work and possibly get a short nap in between. After work, he had practice all over again and this was his life schedule for 3 solid months. As Huffcut and Pitcher (1996) mention the issues of sleep deprivation, I could tell my teammate was fatigued on the field because his ability to play did not reflect his true potential and talent. His coursework was neither phenomenal nor satisfactory, but I don’t blame him, it’s hard to attain good grades when you are exhausted and have other responsibilities. From my perspective, my teammate is not over achieving nor is he achieving. Hence he is stuck in the position he is for quite some time; social reproduction. My teammates’ ethnicity and socioeconomic class also relate to Patel & et al (2010) findings; he was neither member of the rich and elite class, nor was he white.

Not saying Latinos and African Americans are the only ones who are sleep deprived. However as we see in Patel and et al, (2010) it is most likely to occur to lower socioeconomic members and minorities. My belief for this occurrence is because there is a lack of inequality in the United States and lack of opportunity. From personal experiences, I see Hispanic parents holding two jobs in order to provide for them and their families. It is not that they want to work more; it is that they need to work more. Some jobs underpay their employees and do not offer more hours, which lead to the finding of second jobs in order to put food on the table. This is where sleep deprivation could possibly become an issue because now they are holding two jobs and have other responsibilities as well. As I gave the example of my teammate, he is only 22 years old and the lifestyle he is experiencing is not healthy for his brain or body. Sleep deprivation can branch off to different issues in the brain and body. But there is really not much one can do if work and school is a necessity in order to survive and get by life. Some are just blessed with better opportunities than others and others are simply limited to their opportunities due to social inequality.

References

Dement, W. P. (1999). The promise of sleep. Dell Publishing.

Patel, N. P., Grandner, M. A., Dawei, X., Branas, C. C., & Gooneratne, N. (2010). "Sleep disparity" in the population: poor sleep quality is strongly       associated with poverty and ethnicity. BMC Public Health,  10475-485

Persad, L. (2011). Energy drinks and the neurophysiological impact of caffeine. Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Pilcher. J., J. & Huffcut, A. I. (1996). Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: A        meta analysis. Sleep, 19. 318-326.

Stasio, M. J., Curry, K., Wagener, A. L., Glassman, D. M. (2011). Reviving up and           staying up: energy drink use associated with anxiety and sleep            quality in a college sample. College Student Journal, 45, (4).