Starving For Sleep

Dear Future President,

Teens across the country aren’t getting enough sleep. The recommended amount is nine hours. Only twenty percent of high school students get that much. I think that high schools all over America should start around eight thirty. This is because there’s little time for sleep with homework, sports, and family activities. I know some could argue this would interfere with school sports. However, the districts that made the switch said there were few issues. Overall, a later start time would benefit our health, grades, and performance in extra curricular activities.

Schools should start later for the wellbeing of students. When sleep deprived, we are more prone to becoming ill. This is because we get rundown. According to Chris Belcher, a doctor in wyoming; “In the long term, the clinical consequences of untreated sleep disorders are large indeed. They are associated with numerous, serious medical illnesses, including: high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.” These are some of the severe cases; but putting off sleep during the week can affect you. By sleeping for an unhealthy amount on the weekends, your immune system causes a cold or the flu. Therefore, irregular sleep can cause sickness.

Students are running themselves so thin that their performance in extra curricular activities begin to lack. It is known that students aren’t alert when they’re tired. This is because our brains can’t function fully. Dr. Carkadon, an expert in washington, begins to talk about the influence the lack of sleep has on our bodies. “Glucose and glycogen (stored glucose) are the main sources of energy for athletes. Being able to store glucose in muscle and the liver is particularly important for endurance athletes. Those who are sleep deprived may experience slower storage of glycogen, which prevents storage of the fuel an athlete needs for endurance events beyond 90 minutes.” This allows our attention span to lessen. This causes distraction and allows us to get off task easily. This demonstrates the need for more sleep.

Lastly, the effect of bad grades come into play. We often forget what it’s like to get enough sleep. Our bodies have a so called “clock shift” so we can’t fall asleep as soon as we lay our heads down. Therefore, we get used to dragging ourselves around. According to Elizabeth Miller, Thirteen percent of children with difficulty sleeping had failing grades, compared to nine percent of those without sleep problems. Likewise, 25 percent of kids with disrupted sleep had failing math grades, versus eight percent of children without trouble sleeping.” We often lose sight of time management. This means we don’t do homework or study as much as needed. As a result, a loss of effort occurs.

Overall, later start times should be enforced all over the country. This could result in big improvements for all students. After all, what’s more important than the success of our students? This is the generation that will change our society; there is no need to hold them back.

Sincerely,

Julia