Sleep deprivation issue among teens

Before school, Kyli Gillard ('11) takes a nap in the library. She was low on sleep because she had to do homework, study for tests, and practice lacrosse.

With tired eyes and a burned out mind, Kyli Gillard (’11) finally looks at the timer and realizes that it is three a.m.

Panicked, she looks at the mound of homework, papers, and tests in front of her. With this dilemma, her mind is only concentrated on school, but not sleep, an important part of everyone’s life.

Like Gillard, most high school students do not have enough time to sleep due to the many activities they are involved in such as extracurricular activities, sports, and all of the homework, tests, papers they have to do.

“I get no more than six hours of sleep every night. I have a lot of homework, which takes me three to four hours. One time, I didn’t go to bed until two a.m. since I was writing a history report,” Sarah McGee (’12) said.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, students need about 8−1/2 to 9−1/4 hours of sleep each night. Not getting the recommended hours of sleep can restrict one’s ability to learn and solve problems, cause hostile behavior toward other people, and contribute to acne and other skin problems.

“It’s important [for me] to get enough sleep because I’m in a better mood and I pay better attention to my teachers,” Katie Mayer (’13) said.

Studies have showed that adolescent sleeping patterns differ from those of adults or kids. According to kidshealth.org, puberty changes the body’s circadian rhythm, or an internal biological clock, which causes teens to fall asleep later and wake up later. These changes in the circadian rhythm also correlate to stress as students feel the pressure to do well in school.

“An 8- or 9- or 10-year-old is able to fall asleep at nine at night,” said Thalia Assuras, CBS News Correspondent, “but a 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old has their circadian rhythm shifted, so that they’re not able to fall asleep until 10, 11, or 12 at night naturally.” “The stress from the difficulty of classes at CWA contributes to the lack of sleep even though we need sleep to grow properly,” Janay Davis (’12) said.

For students, sleep deprivation is mostly caused by the amount of homework. Since some students have sports or other extracurricular activities after school, they have to stay up late to finish their homework. For example, Gillard who gets six hours of sleep every night, plays lacrosse after school so it takes her longer to do homework.

“Teachers should give us less homework and let us sleep. I know that there is a point to homework, but it can be time-consuming. If teachers give homework that gets the point across and is short, then I think that would solve the problem,” McGee said.

Athletics is another reason for sleep deprivation. Not only do students have to go to practice every weekday, but they also have to go to long games that can keep them out until eight or nine at night.

“I am annoyed with our league because why would you have a game that is two hours away? It is unreasonable that I have to go so far to play a basketball game and go home late to do homework. For example, I had to go to a game in Vashon and went home at midnight,” Rebecca Byrne (’11) said.

Despite these complaints about the lack of sleep, a few students such as Byrne believe that nothing can be changed because the school requires students to have sports credits and have homework. In fact, some students even believe that students’ lack of sleep is not actually an issue.

“I get five hours of sleep each night due to homework, studying, and waking up early to work out. [The amount of sleep hours CWA students get] is not a big deal since you won’t get enough sleep in college anyway,” Jeremiah Papa (’10) said.

Along with sports, technology is a key factor to sleep deprivation. Almost all teens have at least one electronic item such as a television, computer, phone or music device, so they may be watching movies, playing video games, or talking on social networking sites instead of doing homework. Because of technology, they are more likely to get an insufficient amount of sleep and fall asleep in school and while doing homework, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

“There are teens who text message or listen to music all night, compounded by early school hours. Parents should optimize sleep quality for their family with regular sleep and wake times and bedrooms should be kept quiet, dark and conducive to sleep,” Dr. Susan Redline said in a statement to the American Heart Association. Some solutions to this issue can be planning short naps, establishing a set time for sleeping and waking up, or having a consistent sleep schedule.

“I love sleeping. [With more sleep], we can concentrate more, and we don’t fall asleep during class,” Aimee Nyugen (’10) said.