Naptime in School

By Emily Junaedi, 2027

Published 10/11/2025

In a world where most teenagers are very busy and push sleep aside in order to complete their to-do list, schools should help out their students by providing a short half an hour period to allow students to rest and take a nap if they can.

John Hopkins pediatrician Michael Crocetti states that teens need a total of 9 - 9.5 hours of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation suggests 8 - 10 hours. However, with most high school students busy balancing homework and after school activities, teenagers put sleep lower on the priority list. Many claim to get an average of 6 hours of sleep and there are many who also pull all-nighters. According to  the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2021, 77% of teenagers report sleep insufficiency. Connecticut specifically has 78.6% of teenagers reporting lack of sleep. It is obvious that the amount of sleep and rest that high schoolers get is not sufficient compared to the suggested amount.

Sleep is important for teenagers because we are still developing physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. The brain is growing and maturing, requiring the energy that sleep provides. Lack of sleep also causes teens to struggle to control and regulate emotions as well as retain information. This issue also makes teenagers more prone to car accidents, mental health problems, and abusing drugs. Symptoms can begin to appear, for example, fatigue, irritability, difficulty focusing, and increased risk for health problems like obesity and high blood pressure. Imagine seeing your friend, your classmate, or your child suffering but could be helped by adding just 15-30 more minutes of sleep. 

Some may argue that high school prepares us for life and that adults are extremely busy as well. The average school day is around the same length as the average work day, but when you add homework and extracurricular activities and studying, students’ days are stretched even longer, resulting in them being stretched just as thin as adults. When adults bring hours of work home, they tend to label it “toxic”. For kids in the same situation, it is referred to as “school”. School consumes our lives but it is something we cannot quit.

The school schedule hasn’t changed to benefit us with even 15 more minutes of sleep. Some students end up falling asleep in class. If we were given a designated nap or rest time for half an hour, many students would be able to catch up on sleep or take a breather from the stress of school. In this scenario, we would have to move back to the old schedule last year (2024-2025) and take off about 8 minutes from each period which would shorten the amount of time in each class to help with short attention spans. If schools are worried that students will abuse the time by using electronics, phones can be put in the front and backpacks put away. Since there is also the concern that some students may have trouble falling asleep, there should be optional alternatives such as coloring or going on a walk outside.

There are many health issues and disrupted development that could be caused by a lack of sleep, which is a prevalence that many teenagers have due to their busy schedules. These issues could be avoided however if the school accommodated for their students and provided a nap/rest time.