SunDevils are waking up to the brand new school year, and that means they are adjusting to new sleep schedules as well.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that teenagers should be getting between 8-10 hours of sleep per night, but whether that truly occurs for all of our students is questionable.
Junior Jianna Thompson, for example, tries her best to meet that sleep duration suggestion.
“I get a decent amount of sleep now,” said Thompson. “It used to be really bad, but I started going to bed around 10pm so I feel better about it. I wake up at 5:30-6 am so I get a decent amount of sleep. I try to get 8 hours.”
There are many influencing factors that can affect a student’s sleep schedule.
“Students who are involved in clubs, sports, or taking AP classes usually do go to sleep late,” said senior Mackenna Wycoff. “This is especially true if you have a game and then have homework due the next day.”
Many students, like Wycoff, learn to balance work life, school life, sports, clubs, volunteer work, extracurriculars, and other activities all simultaneously. Not to mention the looming presence of college applications and passion project brainstorming for many seniors. “As seniors, many of us are applying to college in the midst of our activities and homework, which can add to going to sleep later,” Wycoff said.
The adjustment from a summer sleep schedule to a school year sleep schedule can be particularly challenging. Freshman Paul Kelley found this to be the case.
“During the school year, my sleep schedule is like, 11pm to 6am, but during the summer it’s probably 1am to 10am,” said Kelley. “I’m a lot more tired during the school year than I am in the summer because I can’t just sleep until whenever I want and not wake up to alarms.”
Though the switch from summer sleep schedules to school year schedules may be drastic, they aren’t necessarily negative. Kelley’s change in sleep schedule sets both his nights and mornings earlier.
For others, however, summer sleep schedules are not that structured.
“In the summer, my sleep schedule is all over the place,” said sophomore Savannah Coulter. “The hours I get each night really depend on the day and what time I sleep and wake up. I definitely think that homework and after school activities can affect sleep schedules.”
With the school year in motion, students are getting more used to having a set schedule for a bedtime and morning routine. They must make adjustments in their productivity and activity scheduling in order to maintain a functional sleep schedule.
So the question remains, are SunDevils getting 8-10 hours of sleep? Additionally, which grade level is in the lead for the best weekday sleep schedules?
Though the poll indicates that the school-wide average may still rest between 7-8 hours of sleep per night for all four grade levels combined, only 45% of the students who took part in the survey were meeting the CDC’s recommended 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Additionally, less than 5% of all students surveyed reported sleeping for 9-10 hours.
The amount of sleep that students get would come as a surprise to many.
“I would assume freshmen and sophomores get the most sleep compared to juniors and seniors,” said Wycoff. “Upperclassmen tend to be more involved and take more rigorous classes, so they spend more time doing activities after school and staying up late doing work. Upperclassmen also have jobs, some of which may have late hours.”
Sophomore Savannah Coulter agrees with Wycoff.
“I’d think that juniors would get the least. From what I’ve heard, junior year is the hardest and has the most work, so that’s my guess!” said Coulter.
Thompson, on the other hand, was surprised to see the number of productive sleep schedules from freshmen.
“They were just middle schoolers,” Thompson said. “They might think they can stay up until 3 in the morning and be fine, but usually that doesn’t go right.”
Though we can’t point a finger on the reason why most underclassmen get more sleep than upperclassmen, we do know that regularly getting enough sleep improves both physical and mental health. Every day might be a great day to be a SunDevil, but it sure does feel like a good SunDevil Day after a good night’s sleep.
