Impact of Sleep Deprivation on High School Students

How Did You Sleep?

Durango High School is filled with dedicated students that do amazing things. Many take full course loads, advanced classes, and participate in a myriad of extracurriculars. But while a busy lifestyle is appealing to most, student sleep is often compromised, which can lead to multiple issues inside and outside of the classroom.

The importance of sleep is often an oversight for adolescents, whose busy lives can lead to sleepless nights. “Sleep is extremely important at the high school level because students are often involved in activities after school, followed by family time and then homework,” said district nurse Adeline Bryant. “Without adequate sleep, stress levels can increase and studies often slip. I advocate for 8 to 9 hours of sleep night for high-school students.”

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This however, is not the case at all. If you pull an all nighter for your finals you are more likely to be less smarter than if you would have just studied for a short amount of time. As I stated before, your body needs to shut down and recharge,” said McKinnis.

Long nights can make a student’s day more difficult; tired teens can hit a productivity wall. “After nights when I don’t get a lot of sleep, the next day can be hard to focus. It takes me longer to do homework and makes cross country more painful,” says So. Anna Pylar.

Stress is also a major contributor to student sleep loss. Students are often unaware of their stresses, which can also contribute to lack of rest.

“The life of a typical adolescent is relatively stressful. Although some don't recognize their life as being stressful until finals or some big event in their life, most experience some sort of stress on a daily basis,” said McKinnis. “Stress is part of life, but what most people don't realize it that it has a cumulative effect on the body. Too much stress will cause interruptions in sleep