Recent studies have found that most students identify homework as the leading cause of stress in their life. Additionally, 67% of teenagers have reported that they receive 5-7 hours of sleep a night. With balancing homework, school, extracurricular activities, and squeezing in personal time, it’s clear that being a student is no easy feat. However, many people fail to recognize the health issues correlated with this hectic schedule.

Receiving 5-7 hours a night sounds alright, but the recommended amount of sleep a teenager should get is 9 hours per day. During these 9 hours, your body is able to rest and recover, and your brain develops (especially if you are a teenager). Getting enough sleep is very important, and sleep is highly beneficial to the human body in multiple ways. This then begs the question of “Is School More Important Than Sleep?”

Personally, I could never prioritize sleep and simply not have an assignment for school done the following day. The thought terrifies me and I would rather stay up all night finishing the assigned work. On the other hand, I know of plenty of students who would rather get the recommended amount of sleep and not turn the homework in. Therefore, I believe that it is simply relative. To some, school is more important than sleep, while to others, it is the opposite. But I don’t think any of that really matters.

I strongly believe that with any amount of school work, if you manage your time wisely, you can receive a sufficient amount of sleep a night. Sleeping late is often the result of procrastination and poor time management methods. I, myself, only get to bed at around 2 AM every night and wake up at 7 AM the next day. I know for a fact that if I hadn’t spent my whole afternoon on Netflix and had actually done homework after school ended, I could go to bed by 11 PM, which is pretty impressive for a high school junior taking AP’s and honors courses.

Now that the solution is out there, how do we execute it? There are many ways you can limit procrastination and improve time management. You can start by simply limiting Netflix to only weekends (this can serve as a goal to look forward to throughout the week as well), or you can put your phone away as soon as you end school and focus on completing work. You can even buy a planner and plan out your entire day if you prefer a physical copy of the tasks you need to complete for the day. The bottom line is that there are numerous options to start being organized.

At the end of the day, no one can definitively state for everyone whether school or sleep is more important. Strictly speaking about health, I suppose sleep would be more important. After all, not turning in an assignment won’t kill you. But school is also very important due to the opportunities and education it provides. Both sides of the argument are understandable. However, I believe that even with all the work assigned to students, if you create an organized schedule and implement certain restrictions, going to bed early despite a heavy workload is 100% doable.