Is sleep deprivation all that bad?

As my final blog post, I will be writing about something that widely, but not exclusively, affects high schoolers regularly: sleep deprivation, and its effects on the human body.


To understand sleep deficiency, it helps to understand how sleep works and why it's important. The two basic types of sleep are rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM.


Non-REM sleep includes what is commonly known as deep sleep or slow wave sleep. Dreaming typically occurs during REM sleep. Generally, non-REM and REM sleep occur in a regular pattern of 3–5 cycles each night.

http://www.beatricebiologist.com/

Your ability to function and feel well while you're awake depends on whether you're getting enough total sleep and enough of each type of sleep. It also depends on whether you're sleeping at a time when your body is prepared and ready to sleep.


You have an internal "body clock" that controls when you're awake and when your body is ready for sleep. This clock typically follows a 24-hour repeating rhythm (called the circadian rhythm). The rhythm affects every cell, tissue, and organ in your body and how they work.
If you aren't getting enough sleep, are sleeping at the wrong times, or have poor quality sleep, you'll likely feel very tired during the day. You may not feel refreshed and alert when you wake up.


Sleep deficiency can interfere with work, school, driving, and social functioning. You might have trouble learning, focusing, and reacting. Also, you might find it hard to judge other people's emotions and reactions. Sleep deficiency also can make you feel frustrated, cranky, or worried in social situations.


The signs and symptoms of sleep deficiency may differ between children and adults. Children who are sleep deficient might be overly active and have problems paying attention. They also might misbehave, and their school performance can suffer.


Leave any questions in the comments!

Why do we dream?

       Sleep is such a bizarre subject. We each spend about a third of our lives doing it, and it’s almost universally accepted as something we need to do in order to survive. But for some reason, no one really understands what it is or why we need it. When compared to other advancements in research and technology that our species has made, it becomes increasingly apparent that what we know about sleep and dreaming is close to nothing.

https://cunninlynguists.bandcamp.com/album/oneirology

       Dreaming is the prime example of a scientific field (also known as oneirology) that we still have a ridiculous amount to learn from, yet is vastly understudied. In case you don’t believe me, google the phrase, “best colleges for psychology.” Clicking on the first result will take you to a list, on which Stanford ranks number one. Yet, if you go to their primary web page about sleep research, you will find that it hasn’t been updated since 1999.
       So if that’s the case, then what do we know? Do dreams serve any definitive function or purpose? If no, then do they have any meaning at all?
       The short answer is a little underwhelming. Dreams have no meaning whatsoever, or at least, none that can be widely agreed upon. On the other hand, the long answer is much more interesting.
There are currently four main theories for the purpose of dreams, but none of them have sufficient research to back them up under intense scrutiny. That said, they each make a decent amount of sense, and none of them are completely unfounded.
       The first and least radical of which is that dreams do not serve as any kind of evolutionary benefit, and is sometimes referred to as the active unlearning idea. Under this model, dreams are simply a side effect of an unconscious brain state, where the entire body is running on a fraction of the power it usually runs on. During the waking state, the brain must adapt to an ever-changing environment where quick and logical thinking is necessary for survival. However, during sleep, there are no stimuli to respond to except for what comes from within our own bodies, random as they might be, resulting in what we perceive as dreams, or the lack thereof.
The second theory is that dreams are meant to maintain our state of sleep. Sleep is an opportunity for our bodies to heal themselves from the mental and physical wear that we experience during the day, which is extremely valuable. A recent study on rats determined that sleep deprivation actually slowed down the healing process of burns. In this theory, dreams serve as a distraction for the brain, effectively prevent sleep from being interrupted by external stimuli, such as loud noises or bright light.
The third and final theory, known as the cognitive theory for dreams, is that dreams happen so we can learn. NPR recently did a study on how people who play Tetris during the day will often find themselves dreaming about it at night. Then, they applied the same concept to lab rats, which concluded that when the rats were sent through several different mazes in a day, they would end up dreaming about solving new mazes during their REM sleep. In another study at UC Berkeley, researchers found that “During... REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the edge off difficult memories.” This could be the reason why people suffering with PTSD often have recurring nightmares of traumatic events; their brains are trying to solve the events like puzzles, trying over and over to solve them by approaching them from different angles. The idea that dreams are meant to help us learn from different experiences, such as Tetris, mazes, and trauma, goes by both the “Cognitive theory of dreams,” and “Oneiric darwinism,” but can colloquially be referred to as a sort of “Mental housekeeping.”
In my final blog post, I seek to explore the effects of sleep deprivation, and determine exactly how necessary sleep is, if at all, particularly for adolescents like myself who prefer to stay up late when possible, and can run just fine on a few hours of sleep.

Mercy for Animals goes undercover

How many of you purchase your chicken from Purdue or Tyson?  How many of you are able to get your chicken quite cheaply and on sale?  Did you ever wonder why chicken used to be a once a week meal saved for a Sunday rather than eaten everyday of the week?  Well, these are questions that I ask myself too.  These questions brought me to research how we are able to buy and sell chicken and all other meats so inexpensively. 

An animals rights activist company – Mercy for Animals ,went undercover last year to find out more truth about factory farming.  They visited maple lodge, one of Americas highest producing meat vendors and what they discovered was shocking. The graphic video they took shows the birds being frozen alive, scalded, violently shackled, and cut open while conscious and able to feel pain.



Take a look at some of their other investigations! 

Know where your meat comes from!  The largest producers offer the cheapest pricing.  These meats are a product of Factory Farming:  Mass production = Mass Mistreatment.  Is meat necessary at every meal?  Our parents and their parents ate meat in much smaller quantities with very minimal waste.  This is certainly something to consider when choosing meats and how much to eat.  Purchase only what you will consume.  And purchase from reputable organic local farms where you KNOW how the animals are cultivated.  Will it cost more?  Probably.  Will you feel better about your purchase?  Definitely. We know that mass production of meats fulfills a seemingly endless demand.  We know that in order to do this animals are put though particularly cruel and inhumane habitation to meet this need. We also know that, indeed, there are alternatives.  Most Americans choose to make the easiest choice.  But you don't have to. Less waste, frugal shopping and purchasing quality meats locally as our ancestors did, is a viable solution.  .  My last words of wisdom to you are:  Know what you are buying and what is put into these poor animals, and eventually into your body .  

Final Thoughts

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From both standpoints on should college athletes be paid, there are many different takes. Looking at opinions from a blog: Should College Athletes Be Paid?, some say that athletes shouldn't be paid but should be covered medically, another says they should be paid because they are the ones putting all of the work on the line, another might say who is going to pay them and what is an equal salary for everyone, and also someone will say which sports will be paid and what about women's sports, etc… Overall the point is there really is no exact right answer and that this is all really opinion and nobody can predict what will happen but can only predict the odds of what will happen.

My opinion on this take is that I think that athletes should be covered medically meaning that the athletes shouldn't be having to pay money out of their own pockets to cover their medical bills that have been caused because of playing the sport at the university. But for whether or not the athletes should be paid, I think that they should be paid. I think though that the only way it could work would be the big income making sport including football, basketball both men’s and women’s, and maybe even baseball. The reason why I think the other sports shouldn't really be paid because they don’t make as much revenue for the school and that it would just be wasting money on paying those athletes. You could even say that maybe it should be up to the university on which sports should be decided on being paid. I also think though that the athletes do not deserve millions of dollars but maybe just minimum wage or a little more because it wouldn't really even make close to 1% of the that programs revenue.

Religious Clothing Discrimination in the Workplace

   https://www.google.com  

         How would you feel if you walked into a clothing store and were automatically judged by something you wore for personal and religious reasons? One woman, Samantha Elauf was not your typical Abercrombie and Fitch sales associate, or even a “model.” She applied in 2008 for a job at Abercrombie in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Even though her application as a 17 year old happened seven years ago, the issue is still being fought out to this day.

   This case was brought to the Supreme Court, allowing the justices to weight the difficulties faced in employment, especially with religious minorities, “in particular women who cover their heads in public – against the rights of employers to avoid ‘undue hardship’ Their decision will hinge on a narrower question, however: Must the job applicant request a religious accommodation, or should the employer recognize the need for it?” Personally I think the employer should recognize the need for it. The hijab is a religious dress that is very important in Muslim culture. It represents Muslim women all over the world, and just because it does not fit the image Abercrombie is trying to maintain, then the stores should penalized for judging someone based on what they wear as religious freedom.

            Even though you think we would have evolved enough to not discriminate against people in a religious sense, “a study by the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project found that 69% of women wearing hijabs have faced discrimination, compared with 29% of those not wearing such head scarfs” (Wolff). This is shocking that well over half women with hijabs, applying for jobs have faced discrimination, and those who don’t wear hijabs, still see discrimination in the work place.

If the justices rule against Abercrombie, the group says, "Employers will be forced to rely on stereotypes in order to ascertain an employee's or prospective employee's religion, which will lead to an increase in discrimination suits against employers." This is pretty much stating that if the ruling goes against Abercrombie, an increase in stereotypes will exist, causing more stereotype situations in job positions. The main question that is being asked in this scenario is that, should job applicants request a religious accommodation? Or should the employer just recognize the need for it? 

Abercrombie has seen an increase in different races joining their workforce, mainly because they faced a noteworthy defendant case. A lawsuit was settled that was brought by black, Hispanic, and Asian-American college students, that was settled for $40 million a decade ago. Abercrombie pledged diversity in its hiring. They claimed to have become less discriminatory, but Abercrombie will keep facing these issues if they just want to market to the idea of someone who is thin, young, white, good-looking, and has an Ivy League, preppy style.

            

My Point of View on Student Athletes

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=htt ps%3A%2F%2Fnicolematera.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F12%2F02%2Fstudent_athlete_balance%2F&ei=neddVcbaEtCqoQT0y4KQDw&bvm=bv.93990622,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNEYhHitjWHBLkQR5Ds_xgKCamQcnw&ust=1432303907858260)

Student athletes are all around the world working hard not only for their grades, but for their sports as well. Being a student athlete can be very time consuming and the only way to stay on top of their game is working ahead of schedule. There are many different results that occur from being a student athlete such as the character traits, and the passion that are picked up along the road to success. In order to be a successful student athlete not only must a person be willing to spend a lot of time practicing, but that person must also be prepared for all of the obstacles that can come along the way such as; stress, character flaws, and even weak mental strength.

First, the most important thing to know about student athletes is that they are very busy people. Being a student athlete can be very difficult for people especially during school time knowing that they have to do both sports and class work (Cheung, 2002). In order to forget about these obstacles one must be willing to work for that extra hour or two every day after both school and athletics. In order to be a student athlete one must not be afraid to multitask and even procrastinate a little bit (Fuentes). Even though procrastination is bad it still happens to athletes no matter how hard they try to avoid it. Being an athlete means that a person is going to be busy for most of the day, and then afterwards that person is going to be really tired from both school and their sports. Athletes should really try to do their assignments from school, a week or two early so that they don’t have to rush and cause stress on themselves. Not only can the transition from going from high school to college be stressful, but also the fact that knowing that both the classes and the athletic competition are going to get harder as well. Student athletes must be prepared to avoid failing classes, and prepare for their season all at the same time (Brandon, 2010). If one can do all of this they are the definition of a student athlete and should be pretty successful in college.

Next, being a student athlete can bring a person a lot of stress causing them to lose concentration in both school and their sport (Wilson, 2000). Stress can be the one major problem that can cause a kid to not only quit their sport, but also drop out of school. Being a student athlete causes more stress than mostly any other reasoning for a student in college to have stress. When an athlete has a big game coming up and a big project due the day after, that will cause some stress. The only way that a student can avoid having this stress is finishing their homework a week earlier, so they have time to relax after the game. Stress can also cause an athlete to stop doing a sport for a little while and completely focus on school. Now there’s nothing wrong with doing that, but stopping a sport for a while will delay the growth of an athlete’s skill level (Fuentes).That little time off could be the determining factor of winning Conference or not for their team. It’s agreed that nobody wants to be that one athlete that ruins winning Conference just because they don’t plan ahead of schedule. If a person is on a team that has small numbers, that can be a big problem for that person and the team. Stay stress free and don’t be a procrastinator and you will be fine!

In addition to being stress free, an athlete must also have good quality characteristics so that they are looked upon as role models. When a student goes to college they will grow into the adult that they want to be in the future. Being in a sport can give that student some of the good characteristics that they may want to have in the future (Brandon, 2010). As it has been said by many people, “You need to work hard now to get, your positive results in the future.” Following this quote could cause a person to work hard to get those good qualities. Being an athlete gives you good leadership qualities because you are use to working with other people and telling them what to do (Fuentes). Athletes also tend to have good respect otherwise they would get punished in their sports, for disrespecting others. Everybody agrees that having to run for being disrespectful is definitely not worth it. Student athletes are respected by others because they realize how the athletes have to work hard and are always determined to succeed. Most student athletes are good leaders, have respect, and are very passionate about both school and sports!

Next, when you see a crowd of people following a person you know that they have to be some kind of an athlete. When a student athlete goes to school they right away are known to be the “popular”, group of people (Baack). Being an athlete causes you to be more social because you’re always conversing with your fellow athletes. Being a student athlete always give that effect of being popular and not being afraid to talk with others (Baack). Athletes usually seem to be the type of people that get along well with others in most situations. Being an athlete causes you to meet more people, which is the reason for why they are so popular. The average person is usually too scared to introduce themselves to someone new because they don’t want to make a fool out of themselves. Another reason why student athletes are crucial to the school is because they are mentally strong. Doing a sport like cross country, an athlete must learn to push themselves beyond the point of which they feel like they “hit a wall”. Once an athlete passes that wall they are already that much stronger mentally and then it makes everything else easier for them. Normal students don’t know how it feels to do something that difficult and manage it mentally without any problems. That’s why student athletes are crucial parts of the school, not only because they are strong mentally, but also because they can be used as role models by others.

In order to be a successful student athlete not only must a person be willing to spend a lot of time practicing, but that person must also be prepared for all of the obstacles that can come along the way such as; stress, injuries, and even lack of sleep. People can learn that student athletes must have the patience to balance school and their sports. Being an athlete can give a person the social life that everyone dreams of and can also give them a very strong sense of pride. All people have to do to change their life actions to be similar to an athlete is have the will to work hard and be prepared for some difficult time management. It’s alright for a person to fail in the process of doing something because if you don’t fail at least once you’re not doing something right; everyone fails and then learns how to fix that problem. Athletes also have the ability to respond quickly when there are abrupt situations, and people can learn how to do that too if they want to be similar to a student athlete.

Works Cited

Baack, E. (n.d.). The effects of being an athlete. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Effects of being an athlte website: http://www.eslbee.com/effects_of_being_an_athlete.htm

Brandon. (2010, March 12). The Benefits fo being a student athlete. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Sideline Chatter: http://gpsathletics.blogspot.com/2010/03/benefits-of-being-student-athlete.html

Cheung, G. (2002). Life as a Student Athlete. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from ecclectica: http://www.eccelectica.ca/issues/2002/3/cheung.asp

Fuentes, H. (n.d.). Being an athlete. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Sun Star: http://www.sunstar.com.ph.baguio/opinion/fuentes-being-athelte

Wilson, G. (2000). Comparing Sources of stress in college student athletes and non-atheltes. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Athletic Insight: http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol7Iss1/StressAthletesNonathletes.htm

Homeless Families

In the united states homelessness is just rising and alongside that hunger education cost and unemployment all of which making it seem as if their are stuck in their crappy lives. According to an article for people at low paying jobs it is very difficult to buy and, if they managed to get one, keep the house. In fact according to an article from The Students Against Hunger organization says

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“in West Virginia, the least expensive rental state in the country, a full-time wage earner would have to earn over $8.78/hour-$3 higher than the federal minimum wage-in order to afford a two bedroom apartment”. This shows single parents would have a hard time raising a family off such a low income. If you look around Hinsdale and our community there is a very little amount of people that earn this much a year. And how many of them are homeless? zero.