Issues Impacting Teen Sleeping Habits

PHOTO COURTESY OF PXHERE.COM VIA CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

Originally published January 25, 2022

There is no denying the fact that most teens don’t get enough sleep. That is because many factors apply to when students hit the hay.

One thing is the classes students take. Having honors or advanced classes no doubt gives a higher workload. Having to complete it all, due the next day, causes some late nights.

“Probably like three hours of homework,” eighth-grader Georgia Depiano said. “I think it impacts how much sleep students are getting because some teachers will assign a lot of homework that same day. So, if you stay up really late doing it, you don’t have as much time to get sleep.”

Sometimes teachers assign a lot of homework on one specific day, unaware of the other homework the students receive.

Sports and after-school activities are also a big factor. Being a teen shouldn’t just be school. Students should be able to get out and get active while having fun. Participating in sports or another activity does take away time from students’ days though.

“I wish that teachers took a better perspective that students do a lot of afterschool activities. That does take up time. So that when every single teacher is assigning so much homework, it does affect how much sleep students can get,” Depiano said.

Next, the wonderful social media and electronics. Teens naturally get attracted to social media. It can be addicting. Keeping up with socials, academics, and other events that are happening in students' lives can be difficult. That’s one of the hardest things about being a teen. Balance.

“Some kids do a lot of sports after school, then they get home and have to get caught up in their schoolwork, and then I feel like they want to also get caught up in their social life,” eighth-grade counselor, Ms. Brubaker said.

Middle school also starts earlier than other grade levels. The earliest start time, 7:40 a.m, definitely doesn't help. Getting up when the sun hasn’t even risen yet feels wrong.

“Middle schoolers are going through one of the biggest growth spurts of their life,” Brubaker said. “It makes no sense why they’re waking up at 5:30 a.m. and then my kids wake up naturally at around six in the morning or earlier, yet they get to start school at a much later time.

High school starts later and so does elementary school. Why do middle schoolers, who are growing and need evidently more sleep, get less?

“I think it would be nice if we started on the high school schedule. I think it was quite a hard change from fifth to seventh grade,” seventh-grader, Ella Osborn said.

When teens stay up late and wake up so early, it doesn't give their bodies enough time to grow and change. At least try and get yourself into a routine. A routine helps prevent stress by allowing your brain to get used to something, (even if it's not the average) so that you won't turn into a sleepless zombie.

“Teens should try and useless devices and try and go to bed a little bit earlier every day until you can have a steady routine. Also, they should try to do homework ASAP and get it over with," sixth-grader Nathan Garner said.