How many of you are getting a full eight hours of sleep every night? With school, homework, sports, work, and extracurriculars, I doubt it’s any higher than 10% of the Costa student body. Personally, sleep has started to feel like more of a luxury than a biological need. Every morning, students arrive to class with either Starbucks or an energy drink in hand, but the reality is, exhaustion isn’t just from late nights, it’s actually our bodily clocks working against us. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), high schoolers’ circadian rhythms are set further back, meaning your body is meant to stay up later and sleep in more than adults. Your circadian rhythm is a natural, 24-hour cycle that helps regulate behavioral processes in the body. This internal clock tells you when to wake up and when to go to bed. So, when you’re in AP Calculus at 7:30 am and your brain is not fully awake yet, it’s not your fault that you have no idea what you’re doing in the class. The system is literally rigged. On top of this, studies show that earlier school start times lead to higher stress, worse focus, and even slower reaction times. Sleep deprivation messes with you in a lot of different ways. Your mood tanks, your memory gets worse, and your immune system actually becomes weaker. This is because sleep deprivation reduces the production of protective antibodies and signaling proteins called cytokines. That decreases the activity of immune cells called, therefore leading to your body becoming incredibly vulnerable. The worst part about the high schoolers’ sleep crisis is that a lack of sleep can build up over time. Missing even just two hours of sleep one night can compound all of those feelings you have when you’re in a high stress situation. It can also increase your cortisol, which basically puts your body into flight or flight mode. So if you’re ever feeling so exhausted that you’ll pass out, but at the same time you want to throw up because you’re so overwhelmed, you should probably take a nap. Stop bragging that you were up until 4 am studying. GO TO BED.
Leave a Reply