Students do not have the opportunity to get enough sleep

(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

Work at five, essay due at midnight, volleyball game on inability to self-regulate, substance use, risky behavior and a Monday, Pre-Calculus test on Tuesday, tutoring on possible trigger for mental illness, according to the Child Mind Wednesday, volunteering at the hospital on Friday Institute. This impact on students’ moods then transfers to the way and bucket loads of homework everyday in between. High their brain is able to process information, affecting their ability to school students across the country endure a rigorous schedule learn. Sleep deprivation is linked to deficits in executive function, from sports, clubs, homework, jobs, volunteering and other according to Julie Boergers Ph.D., affecting students’ organizational extracurricular activities. skills, memory, and their ability to apply and maintain effort.

This constant state of “things to do,” leads to many sleepless So sleep and academic performance have direct correlation. nights. Among the current generation of teens, sleep deprivation The time in which students go to sleep on weekdays has a has become a pressing issue. Due to these overbooked schedules, significant effect on their GPA. Students who go to bed earlier are students are unable to receive the sufficient amount of sleep. more likely to get a higher GPA, according to the European Sleep

Teachers assign, on average, 3.5 hours of homework per week, Research Society. However, going to bed early isn’t an easy task according to the University of Phoenix’s poll. High school students when students’ time and attention are needed elsewhere. typically have five to seven class periods per day, amounting to a A solution to this pressing issue is instituting later start times monstrous workload of over 20 hours of homework per week. for high schools. Waking up early to get to school at 7 a.m. or 8

On top of the immense school workload, students’ a.m. isn’t natural for adolescents’ bodies. With later start times, participation in extracurricular activities snowballs their students are able to rest more and wake up without interrupting busy schedules. Six out of 10 children ages 6-17 participate in their natural alarm clocks. High schools with an 8:30 a.m. or later after school activities, according to U.S. Census Bureau. From start time, allow more than 60 percent of students to get at least kindergarten to senior year of high school, participation in eight hours of sleep per night, according to a study at the Center extracurricular activities have been for Applied Research and Educational ingrained upon student lifestyles. For high school students, 72.2% of students Improvement. Implementing later start times helps extracurricular activities are their top priority. The emphasis on nationwide suffer from students obtain sufficient sleep and also influences the number of tardies and building a solid college resume encourages students to invest their lack of sleep absences for schools. A CDC funded study found that absences and tardiness time in their outside activities. decreased significantly in all grades 9-12 Extracurricular activities have taken precedence. in schools who instituted start times of 8:35 and 8:55 a.m. In one

Participating in these extracurricular activities can affect district there was a massive 66 percent drop in tardiness. a student’s sleep. Students with more extracurricular activities With students across the nation suffering from insufficient sleep the least amount of hours each night, according to a study sleep, taking action and steps towards later school start times completed by Medium. The need to sleep versus the need for provides long term benefits to students in regards to their wellstudents to be involved is often a difficult choice for students. being as it sets students up to be in the very best state of mind.

On the high school level, nationwide, 72.7 percent of students Sleep deprivation in high school students is real. It is affecting experience short sleep duration, less than seven hours of sleep, students by the masses throughout the country as their busy according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The schedules continually plague their ability to rest. average is 65.6 percent for freshmen, 71.7 percent for sophomores, Action needs to be taken. Students can no longer be 77.1 percent for juniors and 77.6 percent for seniors, according to superman. They can’t do everything. Taking on so much work and the CDC. Yet adolescents on average are supposed to maintain at activities is far too strenuous to their health. Both students and least nine hours of sleep per night, according to the Nationwide schools need to make a change to fix the issue at hand. Schools Children’s Hospital. With the majority of high school students should take lead by instituting later school start times as it is the suffering from lack of sleep, the question as to how this is affecting next step for positive change. school performance as a whole begs an answer.

Insufficient sleep is connected to a student’s mood and This editorial reflects the views of the Le Journal Staff. behavior. Sleep deprivation results in an increased risk for injury, Nineteen out of 19 staff members voted in favor of this editorial.