Sleep deprivation is a serious issue.  It is associated with many severe health problems, such as depression, obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, and high blood pressure.  According to the National Sleep Foundation, only fifteen percent of reported teenagers receive the necessary eight and half to ten hours of sleep on a school night.  The absence of sleep in teenagers can obstruct their learning and attention skills.  Students who go to schools that start earlier in the morning are late four times as often as schools that begin later.  The students attending these schools also appeared to have notably lower grades.  Thirteen schools in the United States even changed the starting time of their schools to fix this matter.  Some might argue that they can not go to sleep if they are not tired or that they do not need to get the necessary amount of sleep.  However, it is absolutely crucial to obtain the required amount of sleep every night.  Also, the body’s natural “alarm clock” is meant to go off later in the morning if the person goes to bed later in the night.  Therefore, people who struggle with falling asleep later at night and wake up earlier in the morning are at a high risk for sleep deprivation. 

Being “busy” is one of the main excuses for skipping sleep.  Many teenagers are too occupied with homework, sports, and other responsibilities that they tend to replace the time that should be spent sleeping with other activities.  In spite of this, avoiding sleep can actually cause a person to fail at these activities because they are suffering the loss of energy.   A sleep researcher by the name of  Dr. Carskadon found in one of her studies that teenagers with sleep deprivation are more prone to a depressed mood and an irritable attitude.  Sleep gives the body satisfaction and overall makes a person happier, while people who lack sleep are susceptible to a negative perspective.   Sleep deprivation also increases the chance of teen-related car accidents.  Every year, 100,000 fatigue related car crashes occur.  Drivers under the age of twenty-five years old are the source of more than half of this number due to the serious  deficiency of sleep.  When a child enters their adolescence, their sleep patterns change, causing them to be less tired in the evening.  Something as simple as getting a good night’s rest is severely affecting the world’s teenagers.  What really matters is what people are doing to solve it.  After all, teenagers play a big part in our future.