Many of us, without even knowing it, are making our day-to-day lives significantly harder than they need to be. On average, most teenagers get around 7–7.5 hours of sleep. However, the recommended amount of sleep for optimal health is 8–10 hours. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Students who do not get 8 hours of sleep each day are considered to have insufficient sleep. Teenagers are chronically sleep-deprived, and they can’t seem to stop. But, why?
In 2021, the CDC asked high school students, “On an average school night, how many hours of sleep do you get?” Overall, 77% of students reported getting less than optimal sleeping hours. Additionally, the percentage of students who don’t get enough sleep increased from 2009 to 2021 and most likely will continue to increase.
Telling students to just go to bed earlier seems like the ideal solution, but most of the time this is counterintuitive. According to Nationwide Children’s, after puberty, teenagers experience a biological shift in their internal clock of about 2 hours. As a result, students who previously went to bed at 9pm will now not be able to fall asleep until 11pm, and they now must wake up two hours later in the morning. This shift makes early school start times particularly problematic. With such early hours, it is almost impossible for the majority of students to get adequate sleep for optimal health and a productive day.
Going to sleep earlier is often not an option for many teenagers. With school obligations such as sports, homework, studying, and other social and familial obligations, students often don’t have the time to even consider going to sleep early as an option.
In addition, technology use before bed severely hinders one’s ability to fall asleep. Blue light from screens suppresses melatonin, which in return disrupts your natural circadian rhythm. With your sleep cycle disturbed, it becomes increasingly difficult to fall asleep at a healthy and desired time. Technology can be addicting, especially before going to bed. Time spent up on your phone or any other device directly reduces total sleep duration. Even when individuals manage to fall asleep, the quality of their sleep is often significantly worse.
According to Nationwide Children’s, sleep deprivation negatively affects several significant factors of daily life, including mood, behavior, cognitive ability, academic performance, and driving. Additionally, the National Institutes of Health reports that the cumulative effect of sleep loss has been associated with things like an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke.
It is apparent that sleep deprivation in students is a real problem, but what can students do to fix this? One of the best things you can do for yourself is maintain a regular sleep schedule. Finding an adequate time to go to bed and wake up each day is beneficial in the long run. Even though it is tempting to sleep in longer on weekends, it is imperative that you attempt to maintain a regular sleep schedule. Furthermore, avoiding technology use or other stimulating activities before bed will make falling asleep increasingly easier. Even these small steps can make a tangible difference in overall well-being.
Sleep deprivation is a real, often overlooked issue almost 80% of teenagers face. To address this problem, it is important that students consciously make a change in their habits.
