Persuasive Essay Outline

I.                    Introduction

a.       State problem

                                                               i.      Lack of sleep in teens

b.      How schools contribute to problem

                                                               i.      Early start times and their effects on teens

II.                  Causes of sleep deprivation

a.       Hormonal shift

                                                               i.      Teens internal clock shift forward 1-2 hours

                                                             ii.      Harder to fall asleep/wake up earlier

b.      Excessive extracurricular activities

                                                               i.      Sports

                                                             ii.      Family

                                                            iii.      Social life

c.       Early school start times

III.                Limited learning ability

a.       Lack of sleep makes it harder to remember information

                                                               i.      Neurons in brain don’t function correctly when sleep deprived

b.      Interpretation of events can be skewed

                                                               i.      Judgement becomes impaired

                                                             ii.      Cannot correctly assess situations

IV.                Mental health

a.       Sleep deprivation linked to depression.

                                                               i.      More likely to get depression if sleep deprived

                                                             ii.      90% of children with depression experience sleep deprivation

b.      Bipolar disorder

                                                               i.      69%-99% of patients experience some form of insomnia

c.       Anxiety disorders

                                                               i.      Sleep problems precede anxiety 27% of the time

V.                  Conclusion

a.       Recap of information above

b.      Call to action

                                                               i.      If schools do not do something to help accommodate their students’ sleep problems, then they are going to see serious, health threatening consequences.

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