Lack of sleep is a huge problem with high school students. It can heavily affect their academics but it can also affect other aspects of their life such as personal responsibilities, risk in mental health issues, and if old enough, problems with drowsy driving due to sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation is a huge problem for students because it can completely affect their lifestyle such as not being able to stay awake in school, lower grades, increased risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. A huge talking point of students dealing with sleep deprivation is the reasoning behind why they’re dealing with sleep deprivation. According to Dr. Michael Crocetti, pediatrician at John Hopkins School of Medicine, teenagers need at least nine hours of sleep in order to support their developing brains which are in the developmental stage of cognitive maturation. He also states it helps protect them from serious consequences like depression.
A huge reason behind lack of sleep is because there’s students that have AP classes that require a lot of homework that must be done and could take hours to do which requires them to stay up late. This doesn’t take into account the other homework that could pile up and cause students to be overwhelmed and burnt out. Some students also have sports and practice on top of all this homework which causes them to have less time at home to do hours of homework. Students then stay up way past the recommended time of sleep due to school being early in the morning.
Another point of lack of sleep amongst students are bad sleeping habits due to bad reasons such as staying up to text, watching social media videos, playing video games, and watching TV. These reasons also have the same consequences as someone who is staying up due to academic workload. These reasons are bad habits and need to be fixed. Students can have a choice to get the recommended amount of sleep but choose not to. This shows a lack of responsibility and has serious consequences academically and mentally.
Overall both situations need solutions whether the reasons you’re sleep deprived are due to academics or due to bad habits and bad choices. The consequences can be very serious and need to be addressed whether it’s to have a later school start time or have less homework being assigned. Schools should understand that many students have other responsibilities such as sports and home.
