How Many Hours of Sleep Are Students Getting?

  Students attend school for a little over 6 hours for 5 days a week, totalling about 33 hours a school week. Students have to attend school, participate in their extracurricular activities, and possibly work a part time job, but most importantly they must get a good amount of sleep. 

  Junior Saghar Naderi explained that she gets about 6 hours of sleep a night on school nights. “I fall asleep around 12:20 am and wake up at 5:56” she explains. Naderi stated that after school, she goes home and does homework and studies for upcoming tests for about 5 to 6 hours a night. “I have lots to do because I take AP classes, and the workload is quite a bit,” she said. In addition to spending hours on homework and studying, she also takes guitar lessons. She commented that, “My guitar lessons are usually once a week for an hour.” When asked whether she wished she received more sleep she responded with, “No I’m used to it. I feel like if it would change, I would have to change my whole schedule.”

  Sarah Rosenzweig, a senior, stated that she sleeps for about 7 hours a night on school nights. She went on to say, “I fall asleep at around 11 or 11:30 pm, and I wake up at 6:30 am.” After attending school, she has to attend lacrosse practice and work a part-time job. “I work 3 days a week for a total of 14 hours a week, sometimes more. And I have an hour of lacrosse practice during the week,” Sarah stated. Due to her packed schedule, she likes to spend some time after each school day to unwind and watch television. When asked whether she wished she received more sleep she responded with, “Yes, totally. I would be able to focus in school more if I slept more.”

  Senior Olivia Rangel declared that she sleeps for about 6 and a half hours on school nights. “I fall asleep at 12 am and wake up at 6:30” she stated. In regards to after school activities, she explained that she attends soccer practice for a total of 7 hours a week, and does her homework for 45 minutes each night. When asked whether she wished she received more sleep she responded with, “Yes, I wish very much so.”

   The CDC website states that on a national sample of high school students, grades 9-12, “About 7 out of 10 (72.7%) did not get enough sleep on school nights.”

  According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, “teenagers aged 13-18 should sleep about 8-10 hours per 24 hours.” Considering that students have school for 5 days a week, they are simply not getting enough sleep to sustain themselves.