Hit the Snooze Button

Sitting in first hour, unable to focus, looking at all the students unable to keep their eyes open- for most teenagers, this is an everyday experience. “When I look around the classroom all I see are students that look as if they haven’t slept in years,” said Elizabeth Suminski, one of the health teachers at Milford. According to a 2006 National Sleep Foundation poll, more than 87 percent of high school students in the United States get far less than the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep per night, and the amount of sleep time is still decreasing. Once teens reach puberty, their internal clock jumps forward two hours, consequently resulting in getting to bed later and having to wake up earlier for school.  Sleep deprivation plays a major role in school, but also on the teens body.

SCHOOL, SCHOOL, AND MORE SCHOOL
“I get up 15 minutes before I have to leave for school,” said Sara Restum, a graduate from Milford High School. With high school starting at 7:16 a.m., teens are required to wake up early, which accounts for the lack of sleep they receive. In 1999, the ZZZ’s to A’s Act was passed by Congress, encouraging schools and school districts all over the country to push back school start times no earlier than 8:30 a.m.  By changing start times, teens get more rest, which in the long run leads to less absences, less tardies, and better grades.

HOMEWORK NONSTOP
If students weren’t given so much homework and had more time to do it, sleep deprivation would not be such a big problem. A 2014 poll taken by the University of Phoenix School of Education, researched that on average, high school students are assigned about three and a half hours of homework each night, which adds up to at least 17 hours per week. Students that are involved in sports, clubs, or have jobs, are not able to start their homework until dinner time or later.
“I was on the gymnastics team, and I worked at the gym, and because of that there were nights when I didn’t start my homework until 10 p.m. because I didn’t have the time,” claimed Restum. Although students claim homework is the reason why they are up so late, what they don’t seem to realize is that their smartphones are to blame just as much.

TECHNOLOGY IMPACTING SLEEP
According to a 2015 report done by the Pew Research Center, 92 percent of U.S. teens have smartphones, and 24 percent report being online constantly. Today, teens seemed to be glued to their phone screens, unable to put them down. “ I lay in bed on my phone for one hour before I actually put it down and go to sleep,” stated Ciara Charlick, a senior at Milford High School. Sources have proven that teens would much rather give up sleep than put their phones away, which is a major issue in today’s world.

WHAT CAN PARENTS AND TEENS DO
According to Nationwide Children’s Hospital , to help your teen with sleep deprivation, you can encourage him or her to maintain a regular sleep schedule, don’t allow them to sleep in too late on the weekends, limit your teens screen time to social media and television. Teens also need to contribute to increasing their sleep time as well. “From my many years of teaching, I think that that just changing the school start time to a later time is not going to do much. High school students have to try to get to bed earlier and make sleep an important priority,” stated Suminski.