We Need Sleep

We Need Sleep

By: Lida MacMaster

Waking up to an alarm after getting four hours of sleep is never fun. Picture this; the clock turns to 5:00 and your obnoxious alarm goes off, but you don’t hear it. Soon enough it’s an hour and a half later, you wake up in a panic not knowing what is going on. Unfortunately, for me, I don’t have to imagine it. This is how 97% of my mornings go.

When asked the question ‘What time do you typically fall asleep?’ a junior at Nashua High School North answered: “It depends on my workload, tbh. When I have homework, on top of all the other stuff I have to do, like 12-1? If not then more so 10.”

Whenasked the same question a freshman-year college student at Rivera University answered: “1 am. [because of] homework, just not ready to sleep yet, and laundry.Tuesday night [October 18th] I had an essay due and I worked on it from 12-4 slept for 3 hours then woke up at 7 and submitted it at 8:35 it was a lot.”

In an article from Sleepjunkie.com, researches found that “‘Adolescents experience a sleep-phase delay, meaning their sleep is delayed by two or more hours from conventional sleep times, thus making it difficult to wake up at a conventional time. Teens and older adolescents, in particular, have a later melatonin release and shut off, and typically go to sleep at 11 pm or later.’” For some people, this article provides an answer to why so much changed about our day-to-day from middle school to high school.

In an elementary school in Washington State, their first school bell rings at 9:10 am. My cousins go to this school. When asked; “What time do you guys have to get out of bed in the morning to get ready?” My aunt said, “My kids generally wake up at 6:30, they’re early risers. We would not necessarily need to get up that early to get to school on time, but it allows us a more relaxed morning, so we can read books, sometimes they’ll listen to a podcast in the morning, and we are able to eat breakfast altogether! We have more than enough time than we need to get ready and get out the door.” This proves two things; younger kids are more likely to wake up at an earlier time, and the students going to schools with a later start time are more likely to have a morning with little to no stress about rushing and being late.

Now, picture this; you're in high school, your alarm goes off at 7:30, and you are perfectly okay with that because you got enough sleep! You are fully rested so getting ready is easy and nothing is forgotten. You still have time before you have to leave, and you are able to have a good breakfast that will help keep you fueled through the day. Doesn’t that sound better?

Source used in the article:

Wall, H.

Wall, H. (2020). 7 Benefits to Starting School Later - Sleep Junkie. Retrieved 30 November 2022, from https://www.sleepjunkie.com/benefits-to-starting-school-later/