A constant question parents ask their children when they complain that they are tired after coming
home from school is “did you go to bed at an appropriate time?” but the answer is always yes, or I tried
to but could not get to bed on time. I believe that teens and people of all ages are not making their sleep
a priority at all anymore.
The average high school student does not in fact make sleep a priority. Many high school students with an average of seven classes will almost always have at least four classes worth of homework. For the student to do actual good work and comprehend the work they are trying to complete for grades this could take hours to complete. Add in time for dinner, time with family
this could push into late night hours. Then add on the distraction factor of phones and social media you
could add on another hour or even two depending on if a student wants to get the work done.
What you don’t take into factor is student athletes. When they have practice or even games that almost
always take up their entire afternoon into early evening. From a personal experience I’ve left soccer
fields at 10:45 and gotten home a quarter till 12 at night and still must eat, shower then start all my
homework. On multiple occasions I’ve skipped doing homework and gone straight to bed, but on the
other side I wake up super early and start doing it. There is no perfect solution to get the best amount of
sleep when you have sports or outside extra curricular’s.
From my personal experience as well, I also have a job outside of school and outside my sports. So,
when I’m juggling a two-hour practice directly after school then running to work; while working a four
hour shift it’d difficult to get home and have the motivation to go to bed. I feel stressed out and anxious
with everything on my plate that I must complete in a timely manner.
To be successful in life professionals recommend eight- ten hours pf sleep, it’s not always important to
teenagers that have a busy schedule. We would rather make our other priorities complete before we
worry about sleep.