Students have multiple variables in their lives that affect when they go to bed, including sports, clubs, and rehearsals. But have you ever wondered how many hours of sleep students should get per night? Or how many hours of sleep are other students getting compared to the individual? A poll was conducted by The Times to determine how many hours of sleep students of all grades are getting and what factors influence their sleep timing.
The poll, which included 97 respondents, showed that many are not getting enough sleep. 47.4% said they go to sleep between 10-11, 37.1% between 11-12, 25.8% between 9-10, 13.4% between 12-1, 8.2% between 8-9, and 4.1% later than one a.m. 76.3% respondents said they wake up between 6-7, 19.6% between 5-6, and 9.3% between 7-8. Students also reported various factors keeping them awake, mostly sports, school, and TV shows. This evidence supported the theory that students aren’t getting enough sleep, and there are definitely factors that cause stress that are affecting students’ sleep schedules.
An interview was conducted by the Lafayette Times with Grace Young, a senior at Lafayette High School, about the amount of sleep she gets and the reasons she stays up late. Young told The Times, “I go to bed around 12-1 a.m. on school night’s,” and that “I usually wake up around 6-7 o’clock in the morning.” She gives her first-hand experience on why she stays up late by stating, “I think I stay up late because I don’t get home from work until about 10:30 p.m., and then when I get home I have to work on homework, but if I don’t have homework then I’m playing Fortnite.”
A freshman at Lafayette High School, Jaxson Bush-Robertson told the Times, “I usually go to bed around 11 p.m to later than 1 a.m.” and that, “I normally wake up around 6-7 o’clock in the morning.” She then explained why she stays up late on a school night. She told the Times, “I think I stay up late because I am usually on FaceTime with friends mainly.”
But what have researchers said about how much sleep students get? According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, teenagers ages 13-18 should get 8-10 hours of sleep each night. But, PubMed Central reports, 68.9% of teenagers get less than eight hours of sleep per night. Mayo Clinic provides insight into the increased risks associated with reduced sleep among students. They say that the less sleep you get, the better chance you have of obesity, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.
Studies have also shown how sleep can affect your health. The Bureau of Indian Education says, “It can undermine our emotional functioning, decrease positive moods, and put us at higher risk for anxiety symptoms, an increase in blood pressure, stress hormone levels, and a reduction in parasympathetic tone.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that sleep is critical for memory consolidation, learning, and cognitive function. Students who do not get enough sleep are more likely to struggle with concentration, problem-solving and retaining information.
According to the Mayo Clinic low sleep “raises your risk of obesity, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.” Lastly, the American Psychological Association says, “It can undermine our emotional functioning, decrease positive moods, and put us at higher risk for anxiety symptoms, an increase in blood pressure, stress hormone levels, and a reduction in parasympathetic tone.” These pieces of evidence show that children must get enough sleep to stay healthy and that they should try to balance their sleep and life schedules.
To conclude, if you are worried about how much sleep you are getting, your peers are feeling the same way. Certain distractions can create the risk of not getting enough sleep, and it is important to make sure you have an effective sleep schedule to combat these distractions. Getting enough sleep is important to reduce the risk of health implications that come with low sleep.
