When was the last time we got a good night of sleep?

Lately, everyone is busy with extracurricular activities or attending social events late in the evening that they don’t get the full 8 hours of sleep that they need. Many teens would sometimes pull an all-nighter just so they can complete their project or homework that they didn’t finish during the day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t a good thing. This is actually harmful for our body. A lack of sleep can cause students to perform poorly with an attitude change and hurt their test scores.

Students are known to having irregular sleep patterns due to staying up late and sleeping in late during the weekends. It is hurting our biological clocks and causing many teens to suffer through sleep disorders.

By limiting the amount of sleep teens get per day, they are also limiting their ability to learn and pay attention in school, forget important information, and even cause acne and skin problems. Students may believe that by drinking caffeine or eating anything in order for them to wake up is beneficial. Well, that’s wrong. Eating too much can lead to gain weight at a faster rate because a teen’s metabolism would slow down due to the lack of sleep. The high amounts of caffeine used can allow students to crash later and at any time during the day too. Does anyone really want to crash while driving?

During the end of a school day, most students would say that they plan to take a nap once they get home. While this is a good thing and will help perk some people up, how long is a nap? 30 minutes? An hour or two? By taking too long of a nap, especially close to bedtime can effect with a student’s normal night of sleep.

Students, we need to sleep as much as we need oxygen to breathe and water to drink. In order for students to gain the 8 hours of sleep they need, don’t leave homework to the last minute. Rushed homework won’t always equal the best scores anyways. Avoid using electronics before going to sleep, it can keep us up. The lights can manipulate the brain into believing that it is daylight when it is actually nighttime. Focus on quiet, peaceful activities to help sleep quicker and easier. It would be even better if students set up a sleep schedule so that the body can get used to waking up around a specific time and fall asleep during a good time during the night. Light and dark can help your body become aware of when to wake up. Keep our rooms dark so that our body knows that we need to sleep, and lights on in the morning so that our body can wake up.

Gaining the right amounts of sleep is always hard to do, especially when involved with hard classes and extracurricular activities. We need to make sure to use our time wisely and take care of our self. While school is important, so is our health and body.