No Time for Naps

Sleep is part of life, an important one at that, but what is crazy is that not many teens are getting the sleep they need to perform their best. People aged between 13 and 19 years are recommended to have around 9 to 9.5 hours of sleep every night. This is not close enough to the average amount of sleep teenagers get, which is closer to 7 or 7.5 hours.

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A study found that only 15% of teens are able to say that they get 8.5 hours of sleep on school nights.”

Wilton High School students who were interviewed stated they only slept around 5.5 hours or 6 hours a night. Senior Brady Shook said he doesn’t get much sleep due to him staying up and being on his phone. This is very common among teens today. Many teens are distracted at night by technology like cellphones and video games. Tony Rangel, on the other hand, said that if he doesn’t stay up late, he wakes up a lot during the night. Both students say this impairs their ability to pay attention in class. 

Factors such as technological distraction and insomnia lead to teens not getting enough sleep. On top of this, lack of sleep impairs mood, behavior, cognitive ability, academic performance, and runs the risk of  “drowsy driving.” Not getting the recommended amount of sleep needed can stem from many other reasons like early school start times, social and school responsibilities, as well as a recorded biological shifts in an adolescent’s body clock of around two hours. Only adding to the harsh transition from the summer schedule to the school year. This leaves a lot of teens feeling drained from the sudden wakeup call that comes with school.

 The earlier tests and quizzes of the year can make it hard to get a good grade if the person isn’t able to study from lack of sleep. Which in turn makes them not do very well on the test and creates more problems for themselves later down the line.

 Teenagers need more sleep than the rough estimate of 7 to 7.5 hours that teens average in a night. They have to have homework done in order to pass classes, social life is recommended, and they have to be asleep by around 10:00 p.m. If they have an after school sport or other activity, that leaves a very small window of time to take care of homework and other responsibilities.

 

“Sleep in Adolescents.” Nationwide Children’s Hospital, www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/sleep-disorder-center/sleep-in-adolescents.

 

“Sleep for Teenagers.” National Sleep Foundation, www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/teens-and-sleep.