Sleep is needed on a daily basis to keep our bodies and minds healthy. Without it, one can go crazy. It seems that the amount of rest teenagers are getting is decreasing rapidly. On average a person between the ages of ten and seventeen needs about 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night according to SleepFoundation.org.

At West High it seems that the numbers do not even come close to that. According to Spenser Lee (11) he gets an “average of five hours a night, sometimes even less.”  Taylor Adams (11) claims that “at most [she] gets seven and as little as five.” These short amounts of time are greatly impacting these student’s lives.

Adams states, “sleep definitely affects my day because I am exhausted throughout the entire day and [she] sometimes almost falls asleep in class. My volleyball [practice] is harder because I do not have a lot of energy.” Anisa Azad (11) added, “I will be tired during the day and even doze off in class sometimes.” The tiredness of the students is prohibiting them from being able to learn at their full potential.

The main cause of lack of sleep is mainly homework. Now, of course, no one is saying there should be no homework. Without it then no one would remember anything they learned, however, perhaps less amounts so that students have more time to fit it all in would not be a bad idea.  With extracurricular activities it also gives those students even less time to do their homework. Adams verbalized, “I am always up so late because I have a ton of homework, and I get home from volleyball at 5, and if I have anything else after school, I have even less time to do it.”

A helpful tip to being able to get a better nights sleep with longer hours is to get as much done as you can before the night something is due. If you have a homework assignment that you are given two days to do, do half one night and the other half the next night. Do not procrastinate! It is also helpful to try and stay away from media and technology for as long as you can. Do everything that is important and must get done as soon as you get home. Do not wait until its already 9:00pm to start.

Sleep is such an important factor to being successful and teens are putting their health at risk by staying up so late at night. Lee joked as he made the analogy, “sleep is like a unicorn, they say its real but you will never catch it.”