In a survey completed by Chris Agnone ’18 and Chris Stanek ’19, a majority of students report getting less than 8 hours of sleep per night.

By Chris Agnone ’18  and Chris Stanek ’19

THE ROUNDUP

The rigors of school and extracurriculars often interfere with a student’s sleep cycle which can be very detrimental to their physical and mental performance short and long term.

Nationwide Children’s, adolescents need to get nine and half hours of sleep a night. The average teenager gets between seven and seven and a quarter hours of sleep a night.

The article also explains that as adolescents enter puberty their sleep schedule naturally changes: “After puberty, there is a biological shift in an adolescent’s internal clock of about 2 hours, meaning that a teenager who used to fall asleep at 9 p.m. will now not be able to fall asleep until 11 p.m. It also means waking 2 hours later in the morning.”

Students often are so occupied with these extracurriculars and loads of schoolwork that they end up staying up late disrupting their sleep schedule.

Nik Kirk ’19 is involved in Speech and Debate, The Wrangler, Student Council, Advocacy Club, and takes five AP courses.

“Because of extracurriculars, I spend three to four hours a day after school doing Speech and Debate and helping out with Student Council,” said Kirk.

Kirk explained that with all the work of the homework and extracurriculars, he faces a lot of late nights that affect his sleep.

“On average, I probably go to bed at 11 o’clock, but of course I have the occasional late nights and early nights, which determine what times I really go to bed,” said Kirk.

Though extracurriculars do affect a student’s sleep schedule, sports also have a toll on a student’s time management.

Junior Nick Rau ’19 plays varsity goalie on the varsity soccer team, and also participates in a club soccer team.

“With soccer, practices take three hours and games can occupy up to five hours, and I usually will not be able to arrive home and do homework until 8:30 at times, so it can be hard to go to bed on time when my homework load is a lot,” said Rau. “I go to bed usually around 11:30-11:45.”

Sports, extracurriculars, and school all disrupt a student’s sleep schedule which can prevent them from performing at their highest ability.