We see many students tired when at school, having difficulty paying attention to the lecture, or even recalling what they just learned about. In so many cases, this is due to the lack of sleep they are getting. We see many students get by on four hours of sleep or less and brag about their strength and endurance, but truth is, there are many health concerns if one day you decide to pull an all-nighter.
Sleep deprivation is a serious issue for many adolescents, affecting emotional and behavioral functioning, learning, and development. Without sleep, there can be no healthy brain development or promote the well-being of the student. So why do we need more than eight hours of sleep? Well, sleep is an important function for so many reasons. Your brain signals your body to release Melatonin, a sleep hormone and compounds to decrease risk for health conditions, manager hunger levels, maintain your immune system, and retain memory. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adolescents get eight to 10 hours of sleep each night. It helps the brain strengthen the neural pathways that cement the learning that took place that day.
To add on, you would think that being sleep-deprived, you would not be worried about being hungry and grabbing a snack. That is the total opposite. Poor sleep habits can increase the body’s energy needs. When asleep at night, movement and the need for calories is reduced. But when you are sleep-deprived, your brain will release chemicals to signal hunger. This will lead to eating more, exercising less, and gaining weight. There was a 2014 study that showed that students who slept less, had an increased risk for obesity and high BMI.
So how can we solve this problem? Three ways: parents should set boundaries around screen time, teachers should work together to assign manageable homework loads, and school start times can be pushed back. Only together we can help improve the amount of sleep time students actually get. By allowing later start dates, we can help to improve the classwork of students and the effort they put in.
Aaron's Life 