The life of a student can be very stressful with homework and other extracurricular activities, and sleep is often the last thought on their minds.

Students are very busy during the school year. Homework can be very overwhelming especially when students have other activities going on, and almost all students are involved in extracurricular activities. There are a large variety of clubs and sports to be apart of at the high school. 

With all these activities and school work it seems impossible for a student to have any time to sleep; however, the sacrifice of giving up sleep can be very negative.

One of the biggest consequences of not getting enough sleep is the limit on concentration and focus, which greatly affects a student’s ability to learn at school. Some of the other problems are causing a person to be more prone to acne, more aggressive behavior and a higher chance of sickness.

It is highly recommended teens should be getting about eight to ten hours of sleep every night, but most teens get nowhere close to that amount. Most teens only get around 7 hours of sleep every night which is not good.

“I only get 5 to 6 hours of sleep most nights,” freshman Cori VanOrman said.

The students who are involved in sports have an especially tough time getting even close to 8 hours of sleep. Most student athletes have practice right after school and many of their practices last any where from two to three hours long. Many of them do not even get home until 5:30 or 6:00, and they still have not eaten dinner or started their homework for the night.

There are many things that can help students try and get enough sleep. The National Sleep Foundation suggests to try and keep your room quiet and dark, and teens should try and have a regular bedtime and wake time. They suggest a nap if one did not get enough sleep the night before, but they should be no longer than forty minutes. If a person takes a nap longer than forty minutes they will most likely feel even more tired than before.

In order to help students get more sleep schools should have a later start time. The high school starts at 7:30 and it would be beneficial to students to start an hour later. This would help students get the eight hours of sleep they so desperately need.

“Starting later in the morning would be very beneficial to students because it would give us more time to sleep, and it would give us more time to get our work done in the morning before school starts,” VanOrman said.

Sleep may be very hard for students to get while in high school with all of the stress and activities going on in their lives. That is why schools should start each day later.