Introduction(Attention Getter) Jenny Waller isa night owl, similar to countless college students. During her first few weeksat the University of Michigan, Jenny seldom went to bed earlier than 3 or 4 inthe morning. She said that in college, we don’t have our parents there tellingus to go to bed. Within the first month, she was staying up all night long tillabout 9 am, then missing all of her afternoon classes.

There were many nightsshe would just sit with her textbooks and couldn’t concentrate. Yet she wouldn’tgo to bed unless she finished her schoolwork. She says it was a brutal cycle.The later she stayed up, the worse her concentration got, thus making studyingnearly impossible.

She would read the same paragraphs over and over. Threemonths later, Jenny withdrew from college wrote Howard Markel for the New YorkTimes in 2003.  (Central Idea (Introduce topic and relate it to your audience)) At the end of my speech, I willpersuade my audience they need better quality sleep and how to get it. (Establish credibility (Personalexperience or qualifying statement)) I’ve done hours of research on this topicand found may credible sources.

(Preview of Main points withsignposts)First, I’ll explain lack of sleep andhow it effects our grades and academics. Second, I’ll explain why we’re gettingless sleep and lastly, I’ll explain what we can do to get more sleep.       (Transition) Use signpost (It’sokay if this is not a full sentence)First, BodyI.              Before I explain why we’re getting less sleep, I’llexplain lack of sleep and how it effects our grades and academics.

SleepAssociation.orgdefines lack of sleep or sleep deprivation as not getting enough completesleep. SleepAssociation.

org also explains the 5 stages of sleep. Stage 1 islight sleep, where we drift in and out of sleep and can be woken up easily.Stage 2 is when our eye movements stop and our brain waves become closer. Thisis a deeper sleep. Stage 3 and 4 are an increasingly deep sleep. Some studiesshow that even very loud noises won’t wake us in this stage. People that arewoken up though during stages 3 and 4 feel tired and disoriented for a fewminutes after they’re awoken. REM sleep is thought to be involved in thestoring process of memories, learning and balancing our mood.

A study done bythe National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in 2007 statesthat REM sleepencourages areas of the brain that are used for learning. Studies have alsoshown that when people are robbed of REM sleep, they are not able to rememberwhat they were taught before going to sleep.  A.            A study done by Brad Wolgast titled “Causes andconsequences of sleepiness among college students” states that among collegestudents, 50% reportdaytime sleepiness and 70% attain insufficient sleep. B.            In a study done by Lund, Reider, Whiting and Prichard in 2010 for the Departmentof Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 70.6% of college students reported getting less than8 hours of sleep.

   (Transition) Review MPI andpreview MPIIII.             Now that I’ve gone over lack of sleep and how it effectsour grades and academics, I’ll go over why we’regetting less sleep. There are manyreasons why were getting less sleep.

I’ll be going over 2 of them. A study doneby Brad Wolgast titled “Causes and consequences of sleepiness among collegestudents” states that most college students aren’t getting enough sleep becausewe’re pulling all nighters to study or finish our homework.  Hestates that staying up all night to study is actually detrimental and nothelpful at all. Subjects who were sleep deprived for 30 hours showed zeroimprovement in performance even with 2 days of post recovery sleep. In the samestudy, Wolgast also stated that technology plays a part in why we’re gettingless sleep too. Light exposure from various sources (IPad, phone, computers)decreases our melatonin production. Which is fine during the daytime, but atnight melatonin is needed to help us regulate our sleep and wake cycles.

Itstarts to rise about 2 hours before our habitual bedtime. If we’re using anysort of light exposure, it delays the melatonin production, thus delaying oursleep cycles.  (Transition) Review MPII andpreview MPIII III.           Now that I’ve gone why we’re getting less sleep, I’ll goover what we can do to get more sleep. There are many ways we can get moresleep. I’m going to be going over a couple. A.

            OregonState.edu recommends to come up with a regularrelaxing bedtime routine. We need a bedtime routine to separate us from thedaily activities that cause us stress and anxiety. Don’t do stimulatingactivities like study or homework right before bed. Create a sleep friendlyroom. Put away any electronic devices 2 hours prior to bedtime. This will helprelease melatonin and keep our sleep cycles regular. We should avoid caffeinebefore bed.

Caffeine is a stimulant and will make our body more alert and canstay in the body for an average of 3-5 hours. We should really avoid caffeine 6-8hours before bed to improve our quality of sleep.B.

            If we follow a bedtime routine that relaxes us instead ofstresses us out, it will help us get more sleep, thus getting better grades andacademics.    Signpost(We have discussed, gone over, examined etc…) It’s okay if this is not a fullsentence.  Wehave gone over Conclusionwhatlack of sleep is and how it effects our grades and academics, why we’re gettingless sleep, and what we can do to get more sleep.Next time you decide to pull anall nighter, think about how it will not only effect your grade, but effectyour sleep for weeks to come!                       References Insomnia Sleep Apnea Narcolepsy & Snoring |Treatment & Research | American Sleep Assoc. (n.d.

). Retrieved January 23, 2018,from http://www.sleepassociation.org/. Lund, H.

G., Reider, B. D., Whiting, A. B.,& Prichard, J. R. (2010, February).

Sleep patterns and predictors ofdisturbed sleep in a large population of college students. Retrieved January23, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20113918 Peffen, M. (2017, May 6). The Sleep RevolutionCollege Tour Comes To Boston College Interview.

Retrieved January 25, 2018,fromhttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-peffen/the-sleep-revolution-tour_b_9818510.html?1462462798 National Institute of Neurological Disordersand Stroke. (2007). Retrieved January 23, 2018, fromhttp://www.

ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.

htm#dreaming Tips for Getting Good Sleep. (2017, July 11).Retrieved January 23, 2018, from http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/health-promotion/sleep/tips-getting-good-sleep Wolgast, B. (2016). Discussion of causes andconsequences of sleepiness among college students, 2014.

Retrieved January 23,2018 from Nature and Science of Sleep,159. doi:10.2147/nss.s106494