Caitlyn Rand ’13 &
Nicolette Weinbaum ’12
Web Opinions Editor and Staff Writer

These days, the demands of high school have become the sleep gremlins preventing teenagers from a good night’s sleep that is now a distant childhood memory.

According to a 2007 youth Risk Behavior study of 12,000 students in grades 9 through 12, only 8 percent of high school students get enough sleep on an average school night. The consequences to this are: drowsiness, depression, headaches and poor performance at school.

Libby Russ, the Staples school nurse, believes that students are absolutely sleep deprived. This makes it harder for teenagers to sustain attention, stay healthy, excel academically, participate well in sports, and other extracurricular activities, complete homework, and simply survive the day when they are constantly fighting fatigue.

“It’s a long time to sustain attention, so it’s no wonder that kids are nodding off in class,” she said.
While Russ recommends 8-10 hours of sleep per night, she suspects that most teenagers probably only get 5-7 hours. Although it may be difficult to stop sleep deprivation in high school students, the problem can be reduced by abstaining from looking at artificial light right before bedtime and “teaching kids the skill of managing the body and the importance of health,” Russ said.

The pressures of high school have often gotten to Gwen Moyer ’11, who concedes she’s now at an all time low on the amount of sleep she manages to get each school night.

“I get about five hours of sleep. I try, but I just can’t seem to get it. Every time I try to go to bed, I hit the pillow and I’m just not tired,” Moyer said.  “I just lay there, thinking about anything and everything. Before I know it, it’s 3 a.m. and I have to get up in three hours for school.”

Moyer’s experience is not unique.  According to the studies, 10 percent of American adolescents sleep five hours each night, and 23 percent sleep only six hours on average.

“Sleep is so important, and none of us get enough of it,” Russ said. “Especially with teenagers, it makes the body clock all messed up.”

The rhythm of a person’s body works in time with the circulation of the day.

Not getting enough sleep affects the circadian rhythm, otherwise known as the biological clock, of the body.  Disrupting this biological clock by not getting enough sleep can cause weight gain, irritability, increased error in work, and difficulty studying, paying attention, and being productive.

On the other hand, sleeping restores brain tissue and memory, inspires creativity from dreams, and helps adolescents grow. These factors are very significant in the development of a teenager.

However, a good night’s sleep may be a far off dream.

Beyond the adverse academic consequences, a sustained period of sleep deprivation has social consequences, as well.

Hannah Bjornson ’11 is currently enrolled in three Advanced Placement courses, participates in two seasons of varsity sports, and is involved in a club.  She believes that her schoolwork and activities contribute to sleeplessness.

“I get about five hours of sleep every night and six on a good night,” Bjornson said.  “With all of my extra curricular activities, sometimes I don’t even start my homework until about eight or nine.”

Bjornson believes it has a direct impact on her social life.  “My lack of sleep hasn’t just affected my efficiency when doing school work, but my social life as well. I’m definitely crankier towards friends and family, and I tend to be snappy in responses to them. I lose patience with people.”

There are many weekends where she finds her self coming home early due to over exhaustion.
Some Staples students look forward to the weekends to “just crash” and catch up on deep sleep.  But this appears to be an inadequate remedy to the sleep-deprivation epidemic.

In addition, looking at artificial bright lights before bed, such as from computers and cell phones, delays the ability to fall asleep quickly and resets the biological clock. Thus, those who are willing to give up sleep during the week and plan to “bank” sleep on the weekends are only hurting themselves because the body cannot make up for that sleep debt in just one weekend.

Brandy Roane, an expert in adolescent sleep patterns at the Munroe-Meyer Institute of Genetics and Rehabilitation of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said, “Given adolescents’ downward spiraling tendency of depriving themselves of sleep during the week and playing catch-up on the weekend, more research exploring ways to intervene would be beneficial.”

Alex Lochoff ’13 says his lack of sleep has strongly affected his focus habits and memory. “It becomes increasingly harder to focus, take notes, and remember things,” Lochoff said.

Some research points to a desperately needed later start time for high school students.  Sleep scientists at the National Sleep Foundation believe that an 11:30 p.m. bedtime is an average for most high school students.  Accordingly, in the last decade, 80 school districts across the country have delayed the start of high school for at least 45 minutes. Double that amount is considering a similar change.

Adding just an hour of sleep each night has a plethora of benefits. No matter how difficult it may be to set aside enough sleep time, simply just count some sheep and get some sleep.  It may lead to many benefits.