School Start Times for Adolescents and Sleep Diary

Article reflection 1: School Start Times for Adolescents and Sleep Diary
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Article reflection 1: School Start Times for Adolescents and Sleep Diary
In its policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics addresses insufficient sleep as an important public health concern affecting the safety, health, and academic performance of adolescents. Among the factors that result in insufficient sleep among students include biological processes as young people transition to puberty, academic pressure, and lifestyles. However, the association is categorical on earlier school start times as one of the modifiable factors that have negatively impacted the ability of students to have sufficient sleep (Adolescent Sleep Working Group, Committee on Adolescence, & Council on School Health, 2014). In this paper, I will reflect on my sleep patterns both as a child and adolescent to determine quantitatively and qualitatively what and why they have changed. In the reflection, I will show how my sleep looks like today using my present sleep diary. Understanding the changes in sleep patterns will need an appreciation of the biological underpinnings of sleep and how it changes as children transition to adolescence. Finally, this paper will discuss the importance of sleep among adults and the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics to address sleeplessness among adolescents.
My sleep patterns as a child are a stark contrast to those during adolescence both qualitatively and quantitatively in part due to social and academic demands. When I was a child, I did not bother with strict timetables and schedules that could affect the amount of sleep. I could go to bed early and wake up late compared to when I became an adolescent. My sleeping pattern today does not look like it was when I was a child. Based on my sleep diary, I retire to bed on most days at 11 p.m. after completing my class assignments and wake up by 6 a.m. This means that I sleep for about 7 hours each night but uninterrupted sleep only goes for only 5 hours as I have to wake up between the hours about 5 times. Besides, as I became an adolescent, I started taking up to 30 minutes before falling asleep. The quality of my sleep has since worsened as depicted by my feelings after I wake up. I often feel sleepy after waking up and struggle to stay awake during the day due to insufficient sleep. I realize that these changes have impacted the way I manage my activities both at school and at home and will need to take recommendations from experts on how to manage my sleep patterns.
Scientists have found a...