Science Of Sleep Essay

The Science of Sleep

Internal Clocks Our body creates a hormone called melatonin when the evening rolls in. Melatonin makes us feel drowsy when it is dark outside. The process of creating melatonin begins inside of the retina part of your eye and when light hits the retina, a message is sent to the suprachiasmatic nucleus in your brain. In this area of the brain there is a message that tells us when to feel tired or awake. This happens by messages being sent to the rest of the brain that at control different hormones and body temperature. During the day, melatonin is not produced in the body. However, at night the body begins to produce it. A lack of light also produces this hormone.

Teens and Melatonin

Teenagers produce melatonin three hours later than in the sleep cycle than adults and children. This means for teenagers, a late sleep time combined with an early wakening makes it hard for teens to have the energy they need. By the time teenagers are supposed to be at school, they are still trying to lose the melatonin. This causes miserable mornings where it’s hard to pay attention in class and function properly. According to many scientists, teenagers are supposed to get 8-9 hours of sleep. Because of the late melatonin production, many teens will find difficulty falling asleep resulting in a loss in sleep even if they “go to bed”

However, getting home at dark would allow teenagers to produce melatonin at the correct times. In order to fix this problem, we need to be informed about the sides of the argument. I am involved in sports so I would prefer not starting at 5 or 6 o’clock for sports and getting home from show choir at 10-11. I also very often find it difficult to sleep before 10 p.m. when I do not have homework to do. Jilly made great progress in her school because of how she knew about how it would benefit the