By Liberty Smith

Reporter

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a high school student say they were stressed about college, I’m sure I’d have enough money to send myself to college twice. If I were given an hour of sleep every time I heard a senior high school student say they had gotten no sleep the night before, I would undoubtedly be sleeping for the rest of my lifetime. If you’re still not catching my drift, then put down this newspaper because you’re obviously stressed and sleep deprived yourself.

Now that we’ve cleared out our non-caffeine-indulging friends, I’m going to proceed to assess the reasons behind why we need the previously mentioned caffeine in the first place.

No matter how hard you try to break societal norms, I’m willing to bet that as soon as you read the word “smart” in the above title, that most, if not all, of your brains automatically thought about grades or school. I blame this on the fact that every adult answers the, “Why do I have to go to school?” question by saying, “So you can get smarter.” Furthermore, for the sake of arguing, school equals getting smart. Here’s another one: Sleep equals energy. The reason humans need sleep is because the brain needs to cool down and essentially let your body be rid of constant input and stimulus in order to soak in information from that day and then recharge so as to fire on all cylinders the next day. Which poses the question then, why, if we need energy to continue getting “smart”, do schools have a brilliant knack of making it nearly impossible for students to get much sleep? For example, I’m writing this article even though it’s nearly midnight, but I know that if I don’t my teacher will drop a bomb on my GPA. This would make my college applications look a little less shiny, resulting in the possible end of my academic career, and no one wants to explain that to their grandkids one day.

In case that wasn’t scientific enough for you, here are some cold, hard facts from a 2010 survey of 28,000 high school students published in the Huffington Post.

Over 90 percent of high school students are chronically sleep deprived (i.e., they get less than nine hours of sleep a night on a consistent basis). On average, 20 percent of high school students get less than five hours of sleep each weeknight. Only 9 percent of high school students consistently get at least 9 hours of sleep per night (The minimum requirement needed of adolescents via The National Institution of Health). Teens who sleep only six hours per night are three times more likely to suffer from depression than teens who receive at least nine hours.

Susan Bubalo, who teaches psychology, explained the effects of sleep deprivation.

“The reason sleep is so important is because sleep deprivation causes stress on the body, and chronic stress has been scientifically proven to affect the immune system, resulting in illness.” Bubalo said. She also went on to add that, “People who live in poverty greatly experience this and adapt to this lifestyle subconsciously, which affects not only the way their bodies work but their brains as well.”

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) research on chronic stress levels in the development of adolescents also suggests that excessive stress often leads to mood disorders, personality changes, and problematic behavior. This is because the by-products of stress hormones accumulate at a faster rate, contributing to a sustained feeling of low energy and in some cases, depression.

Mental health is defined as “an individual’s psychological and emotional well being” but the question is, where do we draw the line between healthy stress and stress that threatens a student’s well being? I conducted a survey of students from South that included sophomores, juniors, and senior students of both genders to get an idea of how prevalent stress and sleep deprivation are within the lives of our own students. The results showed that the average amount of sleep received each night was a mere six hours. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most intense, the average intensity of stress and anxiety in students rested at a 7.5. Every single student also reported having at least one activity to participate in after school at least three times a week, and more than half the students interviewed said they held a part-time job as well. The average amount of homework per night landed at 1.5 hours, although many students admitted that if they made themselves do the entirety of the homework and studying expected of them, the number of hours would be even greater. And last but not least, 87 percent of students agreed that it is difficult to achieve and maintain good grades without experiencing chronic stress.

It is important to note that organization, prioritizing, time management, and self-awareness all are things that play into the amount of stress felt by high school students. I would assume that with increased practice of these principles, a portion of the overwhelming anxiety felt by many adolescents would decrease, but not nearly enough. Going to school for seven hours along with additional hours of homework and studying every day makes it nearly impossible for teens to truly enjoy this period of their life because of the constant longing to be finished with it. Not only are students thinking about and applying for college and scholarships, but many are balancing jobs, homework, athletics, all the while most likely attempting to keep up a social life. Personally, with the amount of pressure from parents, teachers, and mys self, I find it hard to ever truly relax without feeling anxious. As much as I do appreciate my education, I can’t help but feel that the education system has failed students tremendously in that our test scores have begun to mean more than our heartbeats, and a letter more important than a genuine curiosity to learn.