STAFF EDITORIAL
(Photo By Maleah Downton)
Busy Schedules Mean INSUFFICIENT SLEEP High school students across the country suffer from insufficient sleep due to their immense and overbooked schedules. Change needs to be made as sleep deprivation is harmful to students.
FAST FACTS
9hrs
of sleep per night
(According to CDC)
60%%
of students are in school activities (According to US Census Bureau)
20hrs of home
work per week
(According to UOPX)
1 in 4
teens work after school
(According to US Census)
Vectors by Vecteezy
10 LE JOURNAL
W
ork at five, essay due at midnight, volleyball game on Monday, Pre-Calculus test on Tuesday, tutoring on Wednesday, volunteering at the hospital on Friday and bucket loads of homework everyday in between. High school students across the country endure a rigorous schedule from sports, clubs, homework, jobs, volunteering and other extracurricular activities. This constant state of “things to do,” leads to many sleepless nights. Among the current generation of teens, sleep deprivation has become a pressing issue. Due to these overbooked schedules, students are unable to receive the sufficient amount of sleep. Teachers assign, on average, 3.5 hours of homework per week, according to the University of Phoenix’s poll. High school students typically have five to seven class periods per day, amounting to a monstrous workload of over 20 hours of homework per week. On top of the immense school workload, students’ participation in extracurricular activities snowballs their busy schedules. Six out of 10 children ages 6-17 participate in after school activities, according to U.S. Census Bureau. From kindergarten to senior year of high school, participation in extracurricular activities have been ingrained upon student lifestyles. For high school students, extracurricular activities are their top priority. The emphasis on building a solid college resume encourages students to invest their time in their outside activities. Extracurricular activities have taken precedence. Participating in these extracurricular activities can affect a student’s sleep. Students with more extracurricular activities sleep the least amount of hours each night, according to a study completed by Medium. The need to sleep versus the need for students to be involved is often a difficult choice for students. On the high school level, nationwide, 72.7 percent of students experience short sleep duration, less than seven hours of sleep, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The average is 65.6 percent for freshmen, 71.7 percent for sophomores, 77.1 percent for juniors and 77.6 percent for seniors, according to the CDC. Yet adolescents on average are supposed to maintain at least nine hours of sleep per night, according to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. With the majority of high school students suffering from lack of sleep, the question as to how this is affecting school performance as a whole begs an answer. Insufficient sleep is connected to a student’s mood and behavior. Sleep deprivation results in an increased risk for injury,
inability to self-regulate, substance use, risky behavior and a possible trigger for mental illness, according to the Child Mind Institute. This impact on students’ moods then transfers to the way their brain is able to process information, affecting their ability to learn. Sleep deprivation is linked to deficits in executive function, according to Julie Boergers Ph.D., affecting students’ organizational skills, memory, and their ability to apply and maintain effort. So sleep and academic performance have direct correlation. The time in which students go to sleep on weekdays has a significant effect on their GPA. Students who go to bed earlier are more likely to get a higher GPA, according to the European Sleep Research Society. However, going to bed early isn’t an easy task when students’ time and attention are needed elsewhere. A solution to this pressing issue is instituting later start times for high schools. Waking up early to get to school at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. isn’t natural for adolescents’ bodies. With later start times, students are able to rest more and wake up without interrupting their natural alarm clocks. High schools with an 8:30 a.m. or later start time, allow more than 60 percent of students to get at least eight hours of sleep per night, according to a study at the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. Implementing later start times helps students obtain sufficient sleep and also influences the number of tardies and absences for schools. A CDC funded study found that absences and tardiness decreased significantly in all grades 9-12 in schools who instituted start times of 8:35 and 8:55 a.m. In one district there was a massive 66 percent drop in tardiness. With students across the nation suffering from insufficient sleep, taking action and steps towards later school start times provides long term benefits to students in regards to their wellbeing as it sets students up to be in the very best state of mind. Sleep deprivation in high school students is real. It is affecting students by the masses throughout the country as their busy schedules continually plague their ability to rest. Action needs to be taken. Students can no longer be superman. They can’t do everything. Taking on so much work and activities is far too strenuous to their health. Both students and schools need to make a change to fix the issue at hand. Schools should take lead by instituting later school start times as it is the next step for positive change.
72.2% of students
nationwide suffer from lack of sleep
This editorial reflects the views of the Le Journal Staff. Nineteen out of 19 staff members voted in favor of this editorial.
