Written by Wyatt Garlow, Staff Writer
No teenager is a stranger to sleeping in. Given the opportunity, most students would rather stay in bed a little longer rather than starting their day earlier.
So when students struggle to get out of the door on time, Indian Trail High School & Academy allows one excused tardy per semester for sleeping in.
But the question is, is that enough time for a teenager to sleep?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 87 percent of teenagers get less than the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep per night. This should be no shock to adults, much less to teenagers themselves, since a teen’s life has gotten a lot busier in recent decades. Having to balance school work, a social life, after school activities and even sports or part-time jobs, it’s not uncommon for a student to cut some well-deserved sleeping time in order to keep up.
So, how does this lack of sleep actually affect teenagers? Crystal Run Healthcare Medical professionals reported that rapid eye movement sleep is found less in teenagers than children or adults. This part of the sleep cycle, known as REM sleep, is where we usually dream and get proper rest. When a teenager has limited REM sleep, it can affect their learning, moods, and physical health.
The scariest finding about sleep deprivation in teenagers is sleep debt. Our lack of sleep doesn’t vanish, it stays with us and collects over time. Stanford Medicine, which have sleep labs at Stanford University in California, found that if teenagers only slept ve hours a night, they would get collectively sleepier throughout the week. This is why drowsy driving is such a big problem. Many people may not understand how much sleep debt they have and when it will seriously affect them.
If Indian Trail and Kenosha Uni ed School District want better academic performance, healthier students and safer students, they should consider allowing teenagers more opportunities to sleep in or move back the school start time.