Which is More Important: Homework or Sleep?
Students swamped by work spend study hall sleeping.
Being a teenager can be hard. When you’ve got a championship game, a three page essay to write, and two tests to study for, it’s hard to focus on how many hours of sleep you’re getting each night. While this may not seem so important, sleep is a crucial part of our lives and should be everybody’s first priority.
Everybody knows that if you don’t get enough sleep, you’re obviously going to be tired the next day. You’re going to fall asleep in the middle of class and just pray that your friends wake you up when the bell rings, but little did you know the lack of sleep you’re getting is affecting much more than just your attention in class.
So why is sleep so important? Sleep is a huge factor of one’s health. It can help your metabolism, heart, and mind which most people seem to disregard due to the fact that sleep is one of the less obvious health-harming factors. Scientists have shown that the amount of sleep you get can sometimes show in your weight. The less sleep you get, the more hungry you are during the day which causes you to eat more. It’s also proven that lack of sleep can lead to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and many other life threatening illnesses. Some even say that the more sleep you get, the longer your lifespan will be.
Not only is sleep vital to your physical health; it also has a huge impact on your mental health. Have your parents or teachers ever told you not to wait ‘til the last minute to study for a test or quiz? This isn’t because they’re trying to be annoying, it’s because studies have shown that the more sleep you get, the more you’ll memorize and the better you’ll perform during the day. If you study for a test at midnight and then decide to wake up early for school, you’re not going to retain any of that information and you’re barely going to be able to pay attention in class. The same goes for sports. If you get a lot of sleep, you’ll play better and there’s a smaller chance of experiencing daytime fatigue. Another problem caused by lack of sleep is depression. Not many people are aware of the fact that lack of sleep can take a huge toll on a person’s emotional stability causing the person to have depression, insomnia and anxiety.
A popular question that many parents strive to figure out the answer to is “Why don’t teens get enough sleep?”. Being a teenager, I can argue that finding time to relax or nap is very hard when we’ve got school, extra-curricular activities, sports, work, etc. For some people the after-school activities are endless and the only way to solve their sleep problem would be to quit those activities. Sometimes that’s not even an option. Research shows that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a night, but do these researchers really know our situations? Honestly, if it were up to me I would make school start a lot later. I’ve been attending school my whole life and I still have yet to figure out why it starts at 7:45 in the morning. I’m not even fully awake by that time! Then there are the teens that have all the time in the world after school, yet still survive on 5 hours of sleep. Not going to lie, this is me quite frequently. With social media and texting, it’s hard to put down the phone, especially when you have a little free time to yourself before you go to bed. But that “little” free time isn’t so little when you glance at the time and realize it’s already 2am.
So what are our options? If we want more sleep, but don’t want to change our schedules what do we do? To be totally honest I don’t think that’s a fixable problem unless the school is willing to let us sleep in an hour more. For teens that actually have trouble sleeping, doctors may be able to treat your problem with medicine or suggest light therapy. For the rest of the typical teens out there that just decide sleep isn’t important, put the phone away before you go to bed, or turn off that movie and logout of Netflix. You’ll never want to skip another hour of sleep again.
http://www.health.com/health/m/gallery/0,,20459221_6,00.html
http://m.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/sleep/sleep_problems.html
Shengzi • Nov 28, 2017 at 9:21 pm
I completely agree with this article. Both homework and sleep are important to perform well in school but I personally believe that sleep is more important in the long run. While homework has the potential to determine one’s future, a lack of sleep will lead to poor mental and physical health, which is much harder to recover from than a bad grade. It is much easier to suffer from a low GPA than to suffer from the effects of poor health. A lack of sleep may also be the cause of poor performance in school. Many students are unable to concentrate and lack motivation to do homework when they are not getting enough sleep.
Chelsea Catlin • Dec 23, 2015 at 9:15 am
I agree and think it would be beneficial to make school start later. In Madison specifically, the elementary school starts almost an hour later than the high school and it would be great if the high school would start later, as well. Younger kids do not need as much sleep as teenagers and they get up early anyway. I really think that starting school later is something that should be highly considered by school administrators.
Jackie DePierro • Dec 23, 2015 at 9:13 am
I agree with this article, I think that school should start later. I usually get enough sleep at night, and I find it really hard to get up at 6:30 or 7 am. I saw a study somewhere that said students’ brains don’t function properly until 10 am so it makes no sense that school would start so early in the morning. On days with delayed openings, I feel much more awake and ready to learn, however on normal school days, I’m falling asleep in my first classes. I also think teachers assign way too much homework to students because we are expected to do so many other extracurricular activities, excluding homework, so students aren’t able to get enough sleep in addition to all of the homework and extracurricular activities
Tori Raiola • Dec 23, 2015 at 9:09 am
I think that school should start later to allow us to fully wake up before having to go to class in the morning. I feel more ready to learn on days that we have a delayed opening because I am able to get 2 more hours of sleep. Also, since we have to wake up so early for school, I end up waking up at the last minute possible and I don’t have time to eat breakfast. If school started later, I would be able to wake up later, have breakfast, and I would be able to concentrate better in school.
Caitlyn Massaro • Dec 23, 2015 at 9:04 am
I think sleep is such a crucial part in our life and the school needs to put that in the consideration. I believe we should have more 2 hour delays during the year.