Nearly every Monday, throngs of heavy-eyed students return to school in a sleepy stupor. It is not uncommon to see this new, exhausted breed of adolescents making regular trips to coffee shops before school to pick up the next sugared-up, hyper caffeinated beverage in an attempt to palliate the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation. When one sees this, it brings a sad truth to light: the high schoolers of today are probably the most underslept generation of student to ever exist. This epidemic does not seem to deter school systems at all though, as start times across the country are still as early as ever as homework amounts increase. This toxic attitude towards sleep, one of humanity’s basic needs for survival, almost seems acceptable nowadays. Students today rarely get the amount of sleep recommended, which is especially detrimental because it affects the quality of their work, their physical health, and their mental wellbeing.
School systems spend large sums of money annually to try to boost the test scores of their pupils through different programs and curriculums, with varying success. However, while doing so, they ignore one of the largest underlying issues as to why students do poorly - sleep, or lack thereof. According to a study conducted by professors Mary Carskadon at Brown University in Providence, RI, and Amy Wolfson of the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, students should be getting, on average, 9.2 hours of sleep to excel in school. Compare this to the reported time most high school students actually spend sleeping, which is less than 7 hours a night. In a summary of the study, it was noted that "the amount of sleep students got was reflected in their grades, those who reported earning mainly A's and B's went to bed earlier on both weeknights and weekends than those who received D's and F's and the high achievers averaged about 35 minutes more sleep per day than the low achievers." If that isn’t enough, the study also found that students’ brains don’t even wake-up completely during school hours. Carskadon woke up a group of students at 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. respectively, times at which they normally rose, and measured their brain activity by 8:30, a time at which they were usually in school. Carskadon found that “their [brains] functioned as if they were asleep,” and that “they needed to be asleep”. While many schools can try to encourage students to go to bed earlier to alleviate the issue, it is to no avail. The delayed release of melatonin in the adolescent brain causes students to have difficulty falling asleep until nearly 11 p.m. Therefore, students are at the mercy of their school administration when it comes to receiving a full night’s sleep.
Furthermore, a student’s physical health is dependent on getting a suitable amount of sleep. During the adolescent years, the body is undergoing development, in which sleep is crucial. With the meager amount of sleep that students are reportedly getting, it is not surprising that student health is suffering extremely. The lack of sleep in teens contributes to obesity, a weakened immune system and stunted growth. Long-term sleep deprivation can even lead to even more serious health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Moreover, lack of sleep is also a leading factor in teen car-crashes, as drowsy students are victims of poor judgement and delayed reactions. Alexandra Martiniuk and a group of researchers studied the effects drowsiness had on driving ability, and used the driving records of 19,000 men and women, aged 17 to 24, who had just received their driving license. Their study found that those who slept 6 hours or less “were 21 percent more likely to have been involved in a crash than those who got more sleep”. It seems strange that other basic necessities have been set aside time during school hours and are respected, as there is always time made for lunch and socializing, but sleep is swept under the carpet. While a later start time may interfere with extra-curricular activities, time available for homework, and parents’ schedules, it is crucial so as to not sacrifice the health of students.
If there is anything truly harmful about the epidemic of sleep deprivation in students, it is the impact it has on student mental health. When students lose sleep, they also lose their ability to exercise self-control - leading to heightened levels of aggression and impulsivity. This also means that they are far more likely to exhibit risky behaviors, including abusing substances (nicotine and caffeine, for instance) and driving while drowsy. Moreover, sleep deprivation is also closely tied with depression and anxiety. The National Sleep Foundation conducted a study in 2006 in which they surveyed more than 1,600 adolescents suffering from sleep-deprivation and found that many possessed depressive symptoms on a frequent (if not daily) basis. 56% of those studied also said that they felt stressed out and anxious. Stressed out and depressed students often have issues falling asleep, leading to a vicious cycle in which the student has neither sleep nor escape. Lastly, sleep takes away a student’s ability to concentrate. Dr. Allison Baker, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Mind institute, found that sleep-deprived students demonstrated the same symptoms of those with ADHD. The students were unable to sit still, stay on task, or focus. How can a school expect its students to be able to focus and do well on work when the start time is so early?
Nowadays, the only thing students are dreaming of is sleep, as heavy workloads and early start-times force chronic sleep deprivation upon students. The fact that not much has been done in schools to help bring this to an end is unsettling. A later start time, while sometimes difficult to implement, would benefit students in all aspects of their academic life. A healthy amount of shut-eye would improve academics and physical health, as well as mental health. However, until school systems across the country decide to delay their start times, students will continue to live lives of sleeplessness.
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