Teenagers are supposed to get around 9 hours of sleep each day, but we only get about 7 on average basis according to www.nationwidechildrens.org. Still, 7 hours is better than nothing. The Algonquin Regional High School, located in Northborough Massachusetts, hosted a survey in 2014 and found that 52% of students get 6 or fewer hours of sleep per night. Researchers in San Francisco, California discovered that inside some people, there is a special gene that lets people get away with getting a low amount of sleep, but not too low. This gene has given people energy by only getting approximately 6 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, this gene only is present to about 3% of the world’s population, that’s only about 225,000 people out of about 7.5 billion people! So that means 6 hours most likely isn’t cutting it for you! This matters because when you don’t get enough sleep, it damages your physical, mental, and emotional health, therefore damaging school performance.

Sleep’s Physical Effects<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Sleeping every night is like charging your phone, because the purpose of sleeping is so your body can recharge for a new day. When you charge your phone to 100%, which in this case resembles the required amount of sleep, you have plenty of energy to stay awake throughout the day for a long period of time, especially in physical activity, because that drains a lot of your “battery”. But when you only got 20% on your body battery because you only charged for a few hours, this makes the risk of your battery dying more likely. Next thing you know, you’ll be sound asleep in the middle of class, and you’ll have to hope that either the teacher or little Jimmy doesn’t notice. But seriously, the point is that your body absolutely needs rest, especially when you have school the next day. Sleep deprivation increases the risks of various problems with the heart, high blood pressure, diabetes, car accidents (Be aware Juniors and Seniors), and many more bad conditions that could be deadly. It’s not likely, but still enhances the odds. So don’t pull all-nighters that often, because your health is more important.

Sleep’s Academic Effects<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

“Aye! Put your head up!”, a common thing you hear during school. It’s been told to me several times. School can be a bore, but if you get a lot of sleep, it’ll make it easier to break the magnetism between your head and your desk. This matters because when you can’t even manage to keep your eyes open, how are you going to manage to pay attention, take notes, or whatever you do during class. Sleepy people in class are the laziest too. When you’re tired, you probably don’t feel like doing school work, or don’t feel like putting your best effort. That affects your performance, and it will make your grades drop. All those words from your teacher will be slowly entering one ear, but then violently pouring out the other, because the lack of sleep provides you with the lack of memory. This is why school staff advises you to get a good night’s sleep before a test so you have a way better chance of remembering the material you studied. So would you rather get hardly any sleep and get mediocre grades, or would you rather wake up feeling good, and get phenomenal grades? The choice is yours.

Don’t be a Sloppy Jalopy<><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I’d also like to add that sleep can affect your overall appearance, and make you very cranky. Most people would rather be around energetic, fun, and people dressed nice and clean. So take notice, it wouldn’t hurt to get a little more Zs.