Searchin’ for the Sand

[This is a little essay written in my history class this year. The assignment was to write about a common but serious problem haunting America today. The goal was to write a persuasive essay that would help to lessen the problem. I wrote about how high school students aren’t getting enough sleep and that school should start later in the day.]  

 High School Students Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep 

            Everyday after school I go to my sports practice then come home; or during the winter I will hang around at the field house for a little and then go home. During soccer or track season I get home around 6:30 and during the winter, somewhere between 3:45 and 4:30. I’ll hang around the house, watch some T.V, or start my homework right away to get in done. After that I should be going to bed around 10:00 so I can get my 9-10 hour sleep like I’m supposed to right? Wrong. I am one of the millions that can simply not fall asleep before 11:00. High school students need around 9 hours of sleep each night to be able to perform to their best abilities in school each day says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS), and that is simply not happening with schools starting before 8:30. The main reason why teenagers do not get the 9 hour rest that is needed everyday is simply because school starts too early in the morning.

            The National Sleep Foundation says that, “Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance, health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night by the end of high school, and most report feeling tired during the day.” High school students like myself are very much used to the 5, 6, or 7 hours of sleep they get on average, but that doesn’t make it healthy. The body does not adapt to low averages of hours and all the hours of sleep you miss per night catch up with you; this is called “sleep debt.” When you are in debt, you need to eventually get out of it and pay what you need to pay. “Sleep debt” doesn’t wait around; it directly affects how you function during the day. A person’s judgments, reaction time, energy, strength, are all damaged by “sleep debt.” NINDS said that, “Experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven’t had enough sleep.” I am always tired in school and there are many more that share my pain. Sleep-deprivation is a serious problem, and nearly all high school students go through it. Studies were done and it proved that driving while sleep-deprived, or your overall reaction time is equal to or worse to how it would be if you were to be intoxicated; the same goes for your hand-eye coordination, everything is weakened when you don’t get enough sleep. “Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” (NINDS) Knowing that, with all of the accidents caused by teenagers in the 21^st century, it is obvious that many of those teen drivers were sleep-deprived. Drowsiness is the last step before you fall asleep, and many high school students are drowsy all day long, especially driving to school early in the morning or after a long day. It’s even an alliteration: Driving while drowsy leads to disaster. School boards, principals, heads of schools, ect., should all take this into consideration and think about the students’ safety. “The National Sleep Foundation says that if you have trouble keeping your eyes focused, if you can’t stop yawning, or if you can’t remember driving the last few miles, you are probably too drowsy to drive safely.” (NINDS)

            Sleep-deprivation not only affects students’ driving, but also their ability to perform in the classroom and NINDS says that here: “Too little sleep leaves us drowsy and unable to concentrate the next day. It also leads to impaired memory and physical performance and reduced ability to carry out math calculations.” (NINDS) Feeling drowsy in the class classroom doesn’t do anything but hurt you. It causes the mind to slow down and to not take in the information being taught. Lack of sleep makes boring classes such as English and math seem like you weren’t even there. Some people have the ability to overcome their drowsiness and concentrate for a good portion of class, but it is guaranteed that class participation, test grades, and standardize test scores would increase in drastic manner if schools would let their students sleep an extra hour or two.

            When teenagers don’t get enough sleep, there are a lot of other issues that greatly affect the lives they live, such as health concerns. “If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop.” (NINDS) I know that I’m never in a good mood when I only got 4 or 5 hours of sleep. The rare nights I get 8-9 hours in, I’m in a great mood and ready for anything that comes my way. It affects how you treat others, and it shouldn’t. There should be more time to sleep in the morning so students aren’t mean to each other simply because they’re tired form their lack of sleep. “Deep sleep coincides with the release of growth hormone in children and young adults.” (NINDS) Sleep-deprived children who dream of being 6-foot-10 and playing in the NBA should forget about it. During a deep sleep, (a typical 9 hour sleep) growth hormones are able to be released and the production of proteins increase and the breakdown of proteins decrease. “Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repair of damage from factors like stress and ultraviolet rays, deep sleep may truly be “beauty sleep.”” (NINDS)  How big you are going to be is mainly genetic, but how much sleep you get also plays an important role. If you want to be big and strong, you need to receive 9 hours of sleep on average, and that is almost impossible for students to achieve.

            The bottom line is that students from grades 6-12^th aren’t getting enough sleep, and schools need to do something about it. It isn’t all dependent on when the school day begins, but teenagers have a social life outside of school. If the schools arnt going to change the schedule, then they should at least assign less homework per night so kids have more time to socialize and possibly get to bed around 10:00. I already mentioned it before, but not one teenager in high school that I’ve talked to can actually fall asleep at 10:00. Sure it can be ignored like it has been and schools can make claims like, “most students are doing fine, the problem can’t be that bad”; but that is just wrong. Sleep-deprived students are a problem. Think of how much better and how much more intelligent students would be if you just gave them 1-2 more hours of sleep each night; the change would be unbelievable. Instead of people making claims like that, people would say, “We should have thought about this idea a long time ago.”