Go to Sleep

Sleep is a complex subject. It’s been tested to the point of redundancy, had its tenets hammered into every high schooler’s tired mind. Good sleep, that is. The key to a perfect sleep schedule is well-known enough: eight hours, every night, consistently, forever. To be frank, there is not a Loveland High School student in existence who can claim to have a spotless record. Factors upon caffeinated factors work against the average high schooler’s claim to beauty sleep, and that should be no surprise. The apparent elusiveness of a good night’s sleep is not a failure to recognize its inhibiting factors; it’s a consistent ignorance of them.

According to the CDC, 81% of high school students have less-than-perfect sleep schedules. It’s safe to assume stress is the overarching reason for this-- in all fairness, high schoolers are stressed out of their minds. It’s not necessarily anybody’s fault; high school is inherently stressful, full to the brim with anxious students already reaching their limits by December. Seniors especially have enough to think about beyond the number of hours of sleep they’re getting. Interestingly enough, the stress that comes from not getting enough sleep is likely contributing to the average student’s lack of sleep. Though anxiety itself is the leading contributor towards losing sleep, it would be unfair to pretend it can always be completely fixed by straightforward lifestyle choices like those brought up in this article. These points don’t exist in a vacuum. For high schoolers, stress itself is unavoidable. There are, however, choices that could lessen its impact, therefore leading to a better night’s sleep. 

All roads lead back to screen time. Smartphones are well-known to overload the brain, which is why experts recommend ditching the device up to two hours before bedtime. That isn’t exactly a groundbreaking statement, though. Again, most high schoolers are perfectly aware of the smartphone issue. The difficult part is implementing a strategy against it. The general advice seems to be to start small-- fifteen minute increments, for example. Two hours is something to ramp up to.

Eating habits also hold an influence. Diets themselves are straightforward: high amounts of sugars or saturated fats can negatively impact sleep efficiency. More balanced diets are favorable to good sleep. It’s also important to regulate the timing of meals. Large meals right before bedtime can increase brain activity, therefore worsening the quality of that night’s sleep. Caffeine will disrupt sleeping patterns, obviously, and can last upwards of four hours. Many students like Claire Mirkowski-Purdy (12) have discovered that cutting out the caffeine will lessen the need for it the next day.

It’s important to remember that habitual changes are processes, and by no means immediate. The first step is realizing the problem, the next is to break the cycle. Your sleep is not going to improve on its own. It’s up to you and you only to change for the better. There are steps that can be taken, and although they seem small up close, progress towards better habits will never be a bad idea. Go to sleep.