More Sleep= A Happy Teenager
There has been an issues for a while that teenage students don’t get enough sleep. The average amount of sleep that teenagers are getting is seven hours when they need at least ten. As a teenager I can agree with these statistics. On average I get around seven and a half hours of sleep per night on weekdays.
Sleep deprivation can lead to many serious actions. Some effects of the lack of sleep are limiting the ability to learn, forgetting important things, acne and other skin problems, sleep disorders(such as narcolepsy, insomnia and sleep apnea), eat too much of unhealthy foods or eat too little, and illness. Sleep is an essential part of life. Sleep is just as important as the air you breathe, water you drink, and food you eat. It is true that without enough sleep you become inattentive, sluggish, and may even accidentally fall asleep. A big factor that causes this tiredness in teenage students is too much homework.
Every school does homework differently but this is the main cause for sleep deprivation. As a student in high school I receive way too much homework each night. If I were to get 30 minutes of homework a night per class I would have 3 plus hours of homework. 30 minutes is not a lot for homework but when you have 30 minutes per class it adds up. When I get home from school it is around 2:30.
When I am finished with everything (chores, occasionally a nap, dinner, and a shower) it is at least 6:45-7. When the weather is nice I like to go for a walk. It is now around 8 and my homework isn’t even touched! This homework will keep me up to at least 11pm and then I go to bed. The next day I am exhausted and fall asleep during 2nd period. When school is the only thing you can think about and you’re constantly stressing, how do you make time for after school activities? Some of them are maybe reading a book, hanging out with friends, sports, video games, a job (if you have one), and spending quality time with family. Generally most of my time is wasted on just thinking of how much work I have to do.
Procrastination is a huge problem of mine and it is very common among kids my age. Even my parents do it! I have tried many things to help cope with the amount of homework I receive and there are many solutions. A couple of quick fixes are obviously less homework, try your hardest not to procrastinate and do not leave anything till the last minute, try to avoid the television and phone while doing homework or right before sleep, make sleep a priority, try to take naps frequently (short naps are more efficient), avoid caffeine (this will not help you sleep at night), establish a good bed time, and have a strict sleep cycle. Sleep is an important thing and it is essential in our lives. We could not live without it.
Sometimes things distract us from sleep but we always need to make time for sleep
