Based on a survey involving my peers and others, more than 65% of people don’t think they get enough sleep regularly. This is true, with 56.5% of surveyed students only sleep for less than 8 hours per day, 84% of those sleeping less than 7 hours. Why is this? Why are our students sleeping so little?
The main problem seems to be school. Most high schools begin their classes at around 7:30-8:00. Based on evidence that teens often cannot naturally fall asleep before 11 pm, we can see that schools tend to start very early. I, myself, find that I can’t wake up before 8 o’clock without feeling tired and sleep deprived.
To make matters worse, students surveyed also have irregular sleep patterns on weekends, sleeping 1-3 hours more than on the weekends.
Our schools are clearly throwing off natural sleep patterns. It’s not good for student’s health, and not good for grades or the schools themselves. What can be done to help?
An obvious answer would be to have schools start later. If schools started just an hour later it could mean drastic changes for teens. But then other problems arise. What about after school activities? How would students deal with reduced time for homework? In order for an entire schools schedule to change, then it has to adapt to lunch, sports, special schooled students, etc. It could possibly cause more problems than it solves.