Sleep is far more important to our success than we would expect. As students of all ages are heading back to school around now, they neglect to get enough sleep. We've all heard it before whether it came from a parent or a teacher, it's always the same, "Get some sleep!" In reality, we need sleep as much as we need to eat and breathe. In mainstream media, it's become 'trendy' not to sleep at night, and it can lead to dangerous situations. Little to no sleep is quite harmful to our physical as well as mental health. But how does sleep deprivation specifically affect us?

For adolescents sleep is very important in puberty. The body has a natural sleep and wake cycle that ensures all of the necessary hormones are released at night during sleep for normal functioning. Staying up late and waking up early cuts sleep short and prevent the body from repairing cells and tissues as they need to be repaired.

When we are low on sleep our body naturally has a slower reaction time due to drowsiness. This means that normal tasks like driving, playing a sport, or even just walking in a large crowd is more difficult. The difference between being tired and being well rested could be the difference between safe driving and hazardous driving. We are more accident prone because the mistakes we make could've been fixed almost instantly, but end up taking longer.

I've noticed myself that I tend to lose focus very easily. Lack of focus can get in the way of homework and cause you to stay up even later. When we're tired it's much harder to learn information, something that would take three repetitions to learn when well rested can take up to 15 repetitions when drowsy. All of these factors account for a student's success in the classroom. Students who get the correct amount of sleep regularly will easily surpass their peers at the academic level as well as in sports or clubs.

Our sleep (or lack of) translates to our health seamlessly. When we are asleep the body fights off infection and sickness and keeps us healthy. Losing sleep lowers the immune system's abilities and substantially lowers our health. Long-term sleep deprivation can even lead to the development of chronic illnesses like diabetes or cardiovascular issues.

Overall as a student, I never realized how much sleep affected my success in school until this last year. Hopefully, others will start to realize that there's no getting around the fact that sleep is a necessity, not a reward. To me, the perks of getting enough sleep far outweigh the consequences. I sincerely hope all of the students getting back into school take the time to sleep because it is very crucial to their health.

Pietrangelo, A. (2014, August 19). Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Body. Retrieved August 26, 2016, from http://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation...

Have something to say or a story to tell? Request to join our Wausau community at https://muse.theodysseyonline.com/apply.