Sleep is crucial our bodies for survival, and most teenagers don’t realize the repercussions of not getting enough sleep. Adequate sleep is needed for the optimal functionality of the human body-from the immune system, emotional and physical health, learning and memory, hormone balance, and more. When someone lacks sleep, all these things can be thrown off balance, causing health problems that may not be noticeable right away but will build up in time.
During the maturing period of one’s life (ages 12-18), also called the teenage years, a person’s brain is still under construction. People should be fully functional by this time, but the brain is still fine tuning itself in preparation for adulthood. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), teenagers should get at least 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep a night. This number seems unrealistic for teens today, especially during the school year.
Teens are taking up more responsibilities than they used to. From school to sports to volunteer work to family and faith obligations, teens are pressured to get everything done in a timely matter. Something’s gotta give, and it’s usually sleep. Kathiann M. Kowalski makes a point in her article titled “Need those ZZZZZ's” about the many obligations teens are faced with nowadays: “Today’s lifestyle is one reason for late bedtimes. Many teens don’t finish with after-school activities, part-time jobs, dinner, chores, and homework until 10 p.m. or later.” Junior Lauren Shaw works at The Original Pancake House and has to be at work at 8am on weekend mornings, “I get up before 7am, 7 days a week but I want the money and I’m done by the early afternoon which is convenient even though I usually just go home and sleep anyways. Then during the week I try to catch up by taking naps but I just always have so much homework.” It’s true, the way society is arranged today is affecting teen sleep schedules dramatically, and it seems to be only getting worse.
A lack of sleep also affects someone’s mental stability. When someone is lacking sleep, they naturally become harder to get along with. We’ve all seen it. “Sleep on it!” from Scientific American Magazine also states that having sleep time cut short can curve the brain’s way of processing emotions and can lead to irritability or crankiness. Not only do teens become cranky when lacking sleep, they also are putting their immune system at a disadvantage. Psychologist and academic affairs Vice President Amy Wolfson at Loyola University Maryland states, “Our immune system is negatively affected by inadequate sleep.” The body needs lots of energy to keep everything running smoothly. When the body is tired, there is limited energy to be used in the body, and sadly our immune system can’t protect us from disease and infection when running off of low energy.
Students also choose not to sleep to do other things when all their required responsibilities are done. Senior Mitch Pankenton was hospitalized for his lack of sleep due to video games, “It was freshman year. I just played Skyrim all night, those were the days. I drank lots of energy drinks to stay up and they made me feel good, but also really bad at the same time. I didn’t care,” says Mitch, “Eventually it got to the point where my parents were worried because my eyes were bloodshot and I just looked dead all the time. I was put in the hospital for a short period of time and I had to take medication and drink lots of water to restore my regular sleep schedule.”
Our school, Orono, is considered one of the top 15 public schools in Minnesota according to Niche. The schools are ranked by state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, student and parent reviews. These statistics prove how challenging it is at Orono, and challenging classes means lots of homework and time consumption. Sophomore Mara Holm is deprived of sleep due to her load of homework, “I get four hours of sleep on a good night. The homework load of classes like AP Human Geography combined with my struggle to fall and stay asleep causes my overall sleep deprivation.”
One topic of debate in our community is changing school start times to allow kids to get more sleep, especially for high school students. Junior year is considered the hardest year of high school. It’s the last year students can build up their resume and GPA in preparation for applying to colleges. Junior from OHS Danika Brockman speaks about the effects of being up way past midnight almost every night of the week, “being tired sucks because while you have finished everything you needed to get done, being in school the next day is pointless because you feel practically dead and don't really end up learning that much.”
According to the article “Sleep on it!” from Scientific American Magazine, studies were done to compare teens who had earlier and later school start times, they found that those who had more time to sleep did better in class. They also suffered fewer accidents in sports, driving, and other activities. Moving back start times in possible and would greatly benefit teens, but would take a lot of rearranging of school systems.
