Despite what many students feel about sleep, it is important. On average a teenager should get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Students at FWPA get around 6 to 7 hours of sleep. Scholars need adequate sleep during testing and during the busy end of the school year. Lack of sleep causes students to perform poorly in class and have severe cognitive, physical, and emotional issues.
Studies have shown the faults of not getting enough sleep. An article by the Child Mind Institute wrote, “Sleep deprivation creates a cycle where teens feel anxious, stressed, and depressed, which makes it even harder to sleep. Lack of sleep leads to impulsive behavior, accidents, difficulty controlling emotions, and may trigger or worsen mental health disorders.” Sleep isn’t just important, it’s vital. Sleep doesn’t just affect our focus but also our emotions. In the National Library of Medicine it states, “Sleep is one of the few fundamental human behaviors needed to support life along with breathing, drinking and eating.” This explains that sleep is one of the most crucial functions in human life, especially in growing teens.
Teachers in our school notice the lack of sleep too. Mr. Scott observed, “When kids of all kinds have less attention, their concentration is poor, and their intake of information is less.” A lack of sleep would affect our learning in tests and tricky classes. A way we can fix this struggle can come from identifying the causes first.
Alexander Kulev explained that one cause is, “Their phone because they stay up watching Instagram reels.” He isn’t wrong; after school, students nationwide are often on their phones between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. A way to fix this was given by Leah Mintesnot saying, “You should go to bed without a phone or go to sleep after an hour without your phone because it can affect how the body sleeps and charges during the night.”
Some students have suggestions for improved sleep. A tip that Morsal Sakhi uses is, “Water before sleeping because it makes you feel relaxed and sleepy.” Another tip from Leah is to have, “A well scheduled bedtime routine so their bodies sleep better.”
Sometimes people need the little things to sleep or even small details to the room to help them sleep. Arrow Clark says that she makes a “really dark, really comfy room and have a warm bed” so that she can have a deep sleep.
Sleep is a MUST for students. Sleep helps with your cognitive, physical, and emotional aspects of life. A plethora of issues are caused by phones and things you do before bed. You can solve them with water, comfy rooms, nighttime routines, less phone time, and even more. Are you willing to make the changes for your sleep?
Sources :
Canadian Paediatric Society. “Teens and Sleep: Why You Need It and How to Get Enough.” Paediatrics & Child Health, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. 69–70, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2528821/, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/13.1.69.
Suni, Eric. “Teens and Sleep.” Sleep Foundation, 4 Oct. 2023, www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep.
Viviani, Nick. “Teens Spend Nearly an Hour on Phones in Late-Night Hours before School, Study Finds.” FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, 20 May 2026, www.fox4news.com/news/teens-spend-nearly-hour-phones-late-night-hours-before-school-study-finds. Accessed 22 May 2026.
Colrain, Ian M., and Fiona C. Baker. “Changes in Sleep as a Function of Adolescent Development.” Neuropsychology Review, vol. 21, no. 1, 1 Mar. 2011, pp. 5–21, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543715/, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-010-9155-5.
