On weeknights, Abby Censky, senior, averages five hours of sleep a night. In addition to four AP classes, Censky plays tennis, participates in six clubs (with officer positions in three), volunteers at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and maintains a research internship at Washington University. That totals up to six hours of work every day after coming home from practice.
“I wish I had more sleep,” Censky said. “But I wouldn’t change what I do. All of my activities are important to my academic enrichment and community involvment.”
Ryan Lee, senior, receives just four hours of sleep a night. A combination of AP classses, two sports and procrastination deprive him of sleep.
“I don’t feel the need to do homework until it’s really late,” Lee said. “Eventually, my fear of not getting stuff done overcomes my laziness, and I’ll be awake until 2 a.m. working.”
Censky and Lee aren’t alone. According to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, only 8 percent of high schoolers get enough sleep. The American Sleep Disorders Association recommends students attain at least 9.5 hours of sleep per night. The national average for students is less than seven hours. Upperclassmen sleep even less.
Students often stay up to study, yet a new study published in “Child Development” in August concludes this behavior is counterproductive. The study, derived from a survey of more than 500 high school students, affirms something familiar to teenagers: students often sacrifice sleep time for study time. The resulting sleep deprivation has two adverse effects.
“First, the student has more trouble understanding something taught in class the next day,” Cari Gillen-O’Neele, phD candidate in psychology and co-author of the study, said. “Second, ironically, the student is more likely to perform poorly on assessments.”
Late-night cramming is destructive, but Gillen- O’Neele stressed studying is still critical to academic success. Studying becomes detrimental only when it cuts into sleep hours. Gillen-O’Neele recommends spacing out study time.
“If one group studies in one four-hour block and another group studies four different one-hour blocks over four days, the group that spaced out their studying always tests better,” Gillen-O’Neele said.
This phenomenon can be explained by how the brain stores knowledge.
“During sleep, our brains transfer information from short-term storage to long-term memory,” Gillen O’Neele said. “Sufficient sleep is necessary to grow connections. Without it, learning won’t stick.”
Many schools concerned with sleep deprivation’s effect on achievement have pushed back start times.
“We find that no matter when school starts, students tend to sleep at the same time,” Gillen O’Neele said. “So delayed start times do help, especially because adolescent biological clocks are naturally wired later than adults.”
But decreased academics is not the only harm associated with sleep deprivation: increased susceptibility to anxiety or depression and difficulty in concentration or memory are also known risks.
“Without the rest of sleep, the mind’s ability to handle sensory input in a proper way is impaired,” Charley Walton, sleep technologist at Midwest Sleep Diagnostics, said. “It’s harder to handle stress.”
Moreover, Walton said researchers have documented anecdotal cases of how severe deprivation can change someone’s personality. Sleep deprivation is also not efficient because one will often drift in and out of sleep while trying to work.
“You need sleep to live, so your body will go to sleep,” Walton said. “Sleep-state misconception occurs when you sleep without even realizing it because of sleep’s amnesia effect, and this happens quite often for many.”
Chris Elledge, health teacher, explained another negative impact.
“Sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of obesity,” Elledge said. “When you’re sleep-deprived, it’s like your body is diabetic. Your insulin doesn’t work well, so you eat more sugar, which causes higher blood glucose, so your body produces more insulin, which continues the cycle, and you store more and more fat.”
Elledge said sleep deprivation affects athletes particulary badly because the body needs sleep to repair itself after strenuous exercise. Abilities such as coordination mprove after a good night’s rest. This year, Elledge will cut varsity girls lacrosse practices shorter and ask the team to sleep earlier.
“I expect to see a marked improvement in performance,” Elledge said.
Elledge said he sees sleep-deprived students at MHS every day.
“Some kids have bags under their eyes or wear pajamas to school,” Elledge said. “Kids fall asleep in class every day or carry giant coffees around.”
Joey Dickinson, sophomore, works 20 hours a week, averages 5.5 hours of sleep a night and feels constantly drowsy.
“I’ve frequently had nights with just two hours of sleep,” Dickinson said. “We are a very tired generation.”