Paper Title
The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Reaction Speed and Athletic Performance in Young Adolescents

Abstract
In recent years, there has been increasing concern about the amount of sleep young people are getting, with evidence suggesting that a large number of them are not getting the recommended hours of sleep. This paper aims to analyze the effects of sleep deprivation on reaction speed and athletic performance in young adolescents. Asystematic literature was conducted which showed that sleep has an impact on our physical performance and reaction speed. However, the majority of the published studies focuson athletes and the studies are often based on relatively small sample sizes, which shows a lack of focus on sleep as a general factor and its impact on teenagers physical and cognitive performance. An empirical study among 59 teenagers (age 14-16) was set up investigating the importance of sleep for teenagers’ physical performance and reaction speed through two experiments: 1 an anaerobic test and 2. A cognitive test. Based on collected measurement data and qualitative data a statistical analysis was conducted. The analysis showed a clear positive correlation between the young teenagers' amount of sleep and their reaction speed and ability to complete an anaerobic test. The findings are backed up by available articles in the field focused on athletes. Keywords - Sleep, Young people, teenagers, Athletic performance, Reaction speed, Empirical study, Questionnaire, Biological test, Anaerobic exercise test, Literature Study