I bet we have all seen shows or movies with “that” type of high school experience.
Mean Girls, Clueless, High School Musical, Never Have I Ever, or everyone’s favorite movie last year—He’s
All That. There’s glow-ups, popular friend groups, toxic friend
groups, romance, spontaneous singing every other scene, food
fights at lunch—you get the point.
But how come they never really mention what’s going on in
high school: students struggling through seven hours of
instruction, sleep deprived and overworked, yet still expected to
focus and participate in class? After school is no better. You wanted
to hang out with your friends at the mall today, but you had sports,
clubs, or work, and now it’s late and you’re exhausted.
Unfortunately, though, the grind never stops. You still have that
five-page essay due tomorrow and a Chemistry quiz to study for,
so you stay up past midnight doing homework. And this cycle just
repeats itself, over and over, pretty much until you finish school for
good.
We’re always reminded to focus on ourselves and make sure all
aspects of our health are in check. But sometimes, there just isn’t
enough time to rest, do your assignments, and focus on your social
well-being with everything going on. Should we choose to do our
homework over going to the movies with our friends? Or should
we skip both of those activities and catch up on sleep?
As a first priority, focusing on your sleep is vital. When we lack
sleep, research shows our attention spans are shorter, and there is a
significant reduction in concentration, focus, and reaction time. If
you’re constantly taking hours and hours a night to do your
homework, it may even be because you’re having side effects due
to a lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation can affect our memory—
whether it’s information you got from class yesterday, or making
your bed in the morning. A lack of sleep can make you completely
forget what you did, and make recalling information for homework
that much more difficult.
A nationwide test done on sleep in teens from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that seven out of ten high school
students don’t get the recommended amount of sleep per night. A study
from the “American Academy of Pediatrics” on high schooler’s sleep reported that,
“Researchers found 73% of high school students across 30 states are not
getting enough sleep, up from 69% in 2009,” and a separate study from
the “Sleep Foundation” recorded that 23.8 percent of teens suffer from
insomnia, which can be caused by poor sleeping habits. If we all got at least
eight to ten hours of sleep at night every night, think about how much more
lively we all could be.
I know you’ve probably heard this multiple times, and hearing
the same old “get more sleep” talk from a random person might not make you
change your mind. I don’t blame you, especially since I barely get seven hours
on a good night myself. But think of it this way: if you go to bed at ten at night,
and wake up at six in the morning, that gives you eight hours of sleep. You could
do your homework in the morning while you’re more productive, as
it might take you less time to finish if you’re more energized. You could also
have a fresher mind for school, which is ideal: after all,
if you don’t have enough brain power to learn, what’s the point of being
at school? You would be a better and more productive self in activities like
homework, yet still have more time with your friends. On top of that, sleeping
more will improve your health, so you’ll be feeling that high school glow up
in no time. Proper sleep is also proven to help reduce the chance of depression
and can increase life expectancy, so there’s even more reasons to get those
eight hours of shut-eye. What you choose to prioritize next really depends on
your situation and what you feel is more worth focusing on. But with proper
sleep, your brain will be more active, so figuring out your priorities will be
easier. Finally, hearing a freshman tell you to sleep more might not make you
change your mind, but just think about the benefits it could have. Plus, it’s
just the beginning of the school year, and for many of us we still have a few
more years of this, so just making one small change to your schedule could
give you that high school movie glow up, and make you a better, happier,
more productive person.