Dear Editor:
It is incredibly easy to fall into an inconsistent sleep pattern or schedule. For many teens including myself it’s easy to procrastinate and then try to complete school work the night before it’s due . When the pressures of a teen’s daily schedule sets in it is easy to think that losing sleep is at least for a good reason. Even after finishing writing or completing those few assignments, the loss of sleep can make a teen feel exhausted and sluggish the next day. While school work is important, lack of sleep will not contribute to good grades in any sort of positive manner. That’s why we need to change school start times to later.
Sleep is an essential part of the body’s recuperation or reset cycle. Not only does it impact how teens do in school, but lack of sleep also has a negative effect on emotions. It’s important for many of us to reprioritize and figure out ways to rid ourselves of procrastination and gain better sleep. It’s important that we learn the benefits of sleep so we are able to excel in our everyday activities. Teens especially need more sleep than other groups because they are constantly growing both physically and intellectually. The lack of sleep is especially prominent in teens. For example, according to Abby Mccoy RN and sleep educator, “(Around 72.7%) of high school students don’t get enough sleep.”
Getting more sleep allows us to maintain better focus, regulate emotions and behavior, and sustain a good memory. According to the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Adolescent Health Committee, “Up to 40% of teens feel that they are too sleepy most of the time.” Sleep deprivation can make a teen feel incredibly overwhelmed when faced with any sort of heavily stressful or emotionally inducing situation.
Many teens’ reaction times can become slower when they don’t get enough sleep which can become incredibly dangerous.When teachers burden students with heavy amounts of work it can feel incredibly overwhelming. Most students and teens have many responsibilities and extracurricular activities which tend to take up a lot of time outside of school. While many teens may have free time there can be a lack of motivation which is when procrastination occurs causing a late night and a disruption in the needed hours to maintain a healthy sleep schedule.
If high school’s starting times were bumped to just 40 minutes later (8 a.m) it would not only give students more time to sleep but also allow them to arrive at school feeling more prepared and excited for the day. “Poor sleep can make it much more difficult to cope with even relatively minor stressors and can even impact our ability to perceive the world accurately,” according to the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. Action must be taken to ensure that the students at Mountlake Terrace are able to get the rest needed to do their best work.
If the demands and responsibilities on teens continue to increase it’s only fair that our high school permits starting times to be later.
Sadie Renick
freshman
