If you snooze you win

With a 7:20 a.m. start time, most high school students start the day wishing they had just a few more hours of sleep. Each school day millions of teenage students agonize as they try to stay awake in class, failing to comprehend vital information. Teachers will call on sleeping scholars daily and ask them to get a drink of water to perk up. While many students sip on coffee or chug a 5-Hour Energy, this is a real issue. Teenagers do not receive enough sleep, and cannot function during school. This ridiculously early start time has caused many to learn at home through textbooks and online videos.

Educators have expressed anger and concern toward students sleeping in class, sometimes lowering a student’s conduct grade if they snooze in class. In reality it is not the students’ fault. Plagued by homework and exams, finding time for sleep becomes extremely difficult. Understandably, it is rude to teachers, but if students learn the information, what is the harm? It is nearly impossible for a high school student to get a good night’s sleep.

According to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, adolescents are notorious for not getting enough sleep. The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between seven and 7.25 hours; however, they need between nine and 9.5 hours. According to University of California, Los Angeles, prior to puberty, our bodies make us sleepy at either 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. When puberty begins, this rhythm shifts a couple hours later. Our bodies tell us to sleep at 10:00 or 11:00 pm. As a result, teens lack two to three precious hours of sleep during the school week.

Struggling students will often pump caffeine through their systems. The hard working student just needs a break every once in awhile. Unfortunately sometimes that break is during first period. Regardless of a teacher’s annoyance about catching a few z’s during class, one thing is for sure; students need more time to sleep and rest their minds, rather than stress over the next school day to come.

While the early school start time exists for working students, it has a negative effect on students who are not in the adult workforce. Students sacrifice more sleep than adults in some careers, considering some do not arrive to work until 9 a.m. All in all, the attitude toward sleeping students should be adjusted.