When students have to fit in school, homework, sports, a social life, along with extracurriculars into their schedules, sleep can become a little difficult to squeeze in. High school students on average are not getting enough sleep, most are barely getting six hours let alone a full eight. NVD students are no exception, balancing so many things on their plates that they forget to give their body much needed recovery.
Sleep deprivation occurs when low-quality sleep interferes with one’s bodily functions. This is much more dangerous than it seems, leading to brain function decline, difficulty concentrating, weakened memory, mood swings, and even long term health problems. However, even with all these risks many high schoolers don’t give sleep a second thought.
“I’m very aware of how important sleep is,” junior Ron Reuvan said. “But I never really watch my sleep. I just sleep whenever I want.”
Many others agreed with Reuvan, stating that sleep is never their top priority. Today’s high schoolers’ schedules are full of extracurricular activities, and many end up completing their heavy workload of homework and studying during hours they should be asleep.
“I feel like I have to study a lot, and it ends up mostly being at night,” Ruevan said. “After school I always have sports, either soccer or tennis, so schoolwork gets pushed to nighttime.”
Similarly, junior Jamie Shu, feels that schoolwork is a major reason for students’ lack of sleep, feeling as if all their assignments pile up to consume their evenings.
“Our teachers give us way too much work,” Shu said. “We need to have time for ourselves and that’s not given so it’s compensated for by our sleep.”
Good time management is extremely important in allowing for students to get enough sleep. While many fall victim to procrastination, some are able to efficiently plan ahead.
“Usually I’m able to get between seven or eight hours of sleep,” junior Ori Levi said. “Typically I do my schoolwork right as I get home so that I don’t have to do it later, because all my other activities are in the evening so I don’t want to be doing my homework when I get back late.”
Even when it finally comes time to go to sleep, most NVD students find themselves “doom scrolling” on social media. Getting stuck on either Tik Tok or Instagram, high schoolers tend to stay on their phone late in the night, pushing their bedtime further and further back.
“I am always on my phone before bed,” junior Elliot Yoon said. “I feel like I start scrolling and then all of a sudden it’s the middle of the night … I end up getting between three to five hours of sleep a night.”
These late night habits often have effects that carry over to the following school day. Students come to school extremely tired and unable to concentrate making it much harder for them to do their work.
“I perform a lot worse in school when I don’t sleep. I just feel so tired and I can’t focus on anything at all,” Reuven said. “It just feels like I’m not fully myself.”
Others, like Shu, feel similarly.
“I’m really unproductive when I don’t sleep. I always end up sleeping on my desk in the middle of class and whenever I try to read nothing comprehends in my head,” she said.
Along with academic setbacks, lack of sleep also affects the mood of students. For Shu, coming to school lacking sleep means being antisocial that day.
“[When I’m tired,] I’m rude and snappy. I get much more stressed out and tend to be less friendly,” Shu said.
Bad sleeping habits are very hard to break and many students end up carrying them all the way to graduation. However, it is still important to try and get as much sleep as possible, ideally a full eight hours, in order to set yourself up for success.
“With how much we have been taught on the importance of sleep, I make sure to at least try and get rested,” Levi said. “I know I feel better when I do.”
