As the first bell rings, many students struggle to stay alert after another night of too little sleep.
By: Jordyn Fierro
Returning to Redwood High school after winter break, students share their sleep schedule and how it was affected over break.
According to The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “Sleep deprivation is known as the condition of not getting enough quality sleep, meaning insufficient hours or disrupted rest, which impairs alertness, performance, mood, and overall physical/mental health, often due to lifestyle, stress, or underlying sleep disorders like insomnia or sleep apnea.”
According to Cleveland Clinic many teens only average about 5-7 hours of sleep per night, far below the 8-10 hour recommendation.
Alyssa Mendoza, ’29 says, “My sleep schedule has drastically changed. I don’t get tired until 3 AM now, and take a bunch of naps during the day. The hardest part is not getting on my phone it’s the reason why my sleep schedule is bad because I’m constantly on it.”
Stories like Mendoza’s can show how common poor sleep habits have become among high school students.
When asked, how many hours of sleep are you getting, Mendoza says, “I get 4-6 hours of sleep. I don’t think this is a good amount of sleep because it’s one unhealthy and two I’m always tired throughout the day.”
This lack of sleep often affects students focus, motivation, and performance in class.
Arie Blockus, ’29, says, “Now that break is over I get like 5 hours of sleep every night and I know it’s a bad amount I should sleep more than that. It definitely affects my mood and grades. What keeps me up at night is my phone and my mom.”
Blockus also mentions that she wishes teachers understood that lack of sleep affects students moods.
Another student shared a similar experience.
Carson Woomer, ’29 says, “I usually feel the most exhausted right before lunch usually because we have so many classes back to back and it gets tiring without a break. Being tired can make me personally more drowsy and want to try less and also it makes me way less social when it comes to talking with my friends.”
He believes exhaustion affects more than just academics.
Alexis Herrera, ’29, says, “I get 5 to 6 hours of sleep and I think it’s bad because I always tend to take a nap during school. Sometimes I lack energy to participate in sports because of how tired I am.”
Many students face similar challenges due to insufficient sleep.
Photo Gigantea
Ava Dodson, ’28, says, “I believe that honestly teens would still not get as much sleep as they should because of the load of homework that they receive from school, and their extracurricular activities. For instance I’m an honors student in multiple choirs, golf, the musical, and ASB. I wouldn’t say its the extracurricular that get in the way of sleep, but more of the homework.”
When asked What’s one realistic change that could improve teens sleep Dodson says, “I know one realistic change could be less loads of homework I know there’s no way we could never do homework again but maybe less for each class so its less stress for the student.”
Dodson also adds, “I believe that on some days my sleep schedule is unbalanced for sure. This is due to not just the different activities I participate in but the homework put on top of it as well. Some days I’ll have almost no homework and go to bed with about 7-8 hours other days it takes hours adding onto the activities which leads to me having about 4-5 hours of sleep.”
Dodson’s experience reflects the inconsistent sleep schedules many students face.
Together, these student perspectives highlight the widespread impact of teen sleep deprivation.
Jordyn Fierro
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