Serra Oral
Reporter
As you walk into the high school in the morning, it seems as though you’re entering a world of zombies. Everywhere you look, you see kids still half asleep wishing that they were back home in their warm comfy bed. Why is this?
Generally, most students go to bed late and wake up early, like junior Katie Scott. “I go to bed at 12 and wake up at 6,” she said.
Even so, others, like junior Elbek Abasov, have a complicated sleep schedule to get the work done in the day. “I probably get 5 hours of sleep each day,” he said “I come home, take a one to two hour nap, then work until 2 am and get up again at 6:10.”
Some are even like junior Katherine Stevenson who gets virtually no sleep. “I go to sleep between 1 and 2 in the morning,” she said, “and then I wake up at 5:00 am to study.”
School Nurse, Josie Davies, said that it’s unhealthy for students to have sleep schedules like this. “As a health professional, I think that every student should get at least 8 hours of sleep,” she said, “Research has shown that you perform better, you stay healthier, and resist diseases better. Its also important for emotional development.”
With the obvious health risks, why do students practice such unhealthy sleep schedules? “I feel that the amount of homework assigned to us per night is unrealistic, given our busy extracurricular schedules,” Katie said.
For some students though, it really depends on what type of night they are having. “My sleeping habits are based on the amount of homework I have each night,” Katherine said.
“Most of the time, I get a lot of homework and I get too lazy to do it, and keep thinking I’ll do it later and then get to bed late,” Elbek said. “But there are those times when your teachers gives you two tests and a project, and you have no choice, but to stay up.”
What would it be like if we had less homework though? Would we then get more sleep? A majority of students believe that it would provide positive results. “Getting less homework of course would give me more sleep.” Elbek said, “Not only would I get less work, but I would be more motivated to get it done. It would make me livelier and I wouldn’t be so moody anymore. I’d feel more like a normal person instead of feeling like a zombie all the time.”
Despite this, homework isn’t always the issue that keeps people up. “Even though I try really hard in school and I’m really determined, I’m always on Facebook and AIM.” Elbek said.
“There are a lot of other distractions in terms of computer time, Facebook, Youtube, and cell phone use.” Ms. Davies said.
In order to stop unhealthy sleeping habits, Wilton High School has created a later starting time of their school day. Assistant Principal, Ari Rothman, whose sons go to the school, said, “There’s a sleep study that a couple of people around the state have been bringing to different school districts. It states that teenagers need to sleep more and younger kids do not need to sleep as late, so Wilton decided to have their intermediate school, grades 3-5, start at 7:30, and the high school start at around 8:15.”
However Mr. Rothman sees little difference in the switched start times, and NCHS decided not to alter start times because he hasn’t heard from other people about are any benefits or inconveniences. “They looked at the study and decided that there isn’t enough proof for this to make a difference.” Mr. Rothman said.
