Sleep Deprived Students

Pick two of the following: good grades, a social life, enough sleep. More often than not, sleep is what people choose to sacrifice.

On average, Prep students get six hours of sleep a night. Compare this to the amount of sleep teenagers should be getting: nine hours. It is clear that something must change. Most teenagers have hectic schedules. From school to extra-curriculars to homework, the stress can sometimes be unbearable, taking a toll on the amount of sleep a student gets. Julia Ribas ’18 believes that this lack of sleep affects the quality of a student’s work, especially on tests. She says, “If I don’t get enough sleep the night before a test, then I don’t do as well”.

Lauren Mulligan ’20 concurs with this statement, saying, “If I have a test first thing in the morning, my thought process gets mucky and it’s hard for me to do things I’m normally good at.”

Is there a fix for this sleep dilemma? Ribas asks for help from teachers. She believes that it is important for teachers to know about their students, how they are getting their work done, and how they are learning. She thinks that Prep really challenges its students with time management, and it is not the responsibility of the teachers to manage their students, but it would be helpful if teachers were involved because it is comforting knowing you are not alone.

Teenagers are expected to excel at school work, participate in extra-curricular activities, have social lives, and get enough sleep, but they cannot have them all. Mulligan comments, “As teenagers it’s really important to have a social life, we live stressful lives right now so it’s good to have a release.”

Cody Dotson ’21 explains his reasoning behind prioritizing grades and social life over sleep. He says getting good grades will help you throughout life because “it prepares you for the future and helps you build a path for yourself.” Dotson also thinks that due to the amount of school work Seattle Prep gives he “needs some breaks to hang out with friends and communicate with people.”

He thinks the two biggest reasons students do not get enough sleep is because of procrastination and extracurricular activities. He says procrastination causes a nasty cycle of stress that continuously makes you further and further behind on homework. Dotson thinks extra-curriculars cause students to start homework later and therefore, have to take more time out of their sleep schedule to finish their homework.

Late starts seem to be a saving grace to Prep students. Ribas says that late starts save her, and she even plans her sleep schedule around late starts. Late starts give students an average of 1-2 extra hours of sleep which can be vital to get through a school day. Ribas also appreciates the school day being shorter.

Lauren Mulligan ’20 sums up the feelings of most Prep students when she simply says, “I’m tired”.