Sleep: It’s Good for You

Addison Gregory, Staff Reporter

Teenage lives are busy and hectic, and sometimes we think that sleeping would do nothing but take up time we could be using in otherways, but sleep is quite literally what keeps us going. 

Not sleeping can have more bad effects than good. Sure, you have more time to you as you choose, but sleep has negative impacts on your life, and not just with your health. It affects how fast your brain processes, your comprehension, and also how you act in social situations. Being sleep-deprived causes you to be lethargic and have low motivation, and can also increase anxiety and depression.

“The cumulative long-term effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke,” National Institutes of Health, Harvey Colten and Bruce Altevogt said.

In the modern day, students, especially highschool students, experience a lack of sleep quite regularly. Doctors recommend 8-10 hours of sleep for teens and tweens, but over 70% of students don’t get that amount of sleep. 

“I get 4 hours of sleep,” freshman Isabella Salinas said.

Homework is important, but if you don’t have the willpower or the brain power due to lack of sleep, there isn’t really any point of doing it. Academic loads are tough, and scheduling can be difficult, but sleep is a vital part of your health.

Because of sleep deprivation, a lot of students nap in class, to the dismay of their teachers.

“Students will occasionally fall asleep in my class and unless they’re missing something important I’ll let them sleep for a minute because I don’t know why they’re so tired, maybe it’s their home lives that are making them tired,” Ms. Taylor Cissell said.

Students miss important information when sleeping in class. Tests also tend to put students to sleep.

“20-30% of high school students and 6% of middle school students fall asleep in school each day,” Start School Later, Sarah McKibben said.

Naps are great, but true sleep is better. When you’re napping in class, you’re constantly interrupted, there’s lots of background noise, and you’re probably not super comfortable. Sleeping at night allows you to have long, uninterrupted sleep, and it allows your body and mind to take a full break. Sleep is vital, time-consuming, but vital.