Sleep deprivation is extremely common in young people today. Many teenagers even claim they only get around four to five hours of sleep on average when in reality, research shows teens need eight to ten hours of sleep every night. I barely get that much sleep on the weekends, much less throughout the week when I usually only get five to six hours of sleep. However, I have noticed that since going back to a full five-day schedule at school, this sleep pattern is not working for me. I am always tired at school and do not feel like I have enough energy to do homework by the end of the day. It is for this reason that I have decided to try to the best of my ability to have a better sleep schedule. Of course, there are some days when it is not possible for me to go to bed by eleven o’clock at night; yet I attempt to have everything I need completed by then so that I can get in bed.

A Stanford Medicine research project shows that sleep deprivation has become an epidemic amongst teens as it increases the likelihood that teens will suffer from the loss of concentration, poor grades, drowsy-driving incidents, anxiety, depression, and even thoughts of suicide. While interviewing several teenagers, researchers found out that high-school age children feel as though they have insane amounts of items to check off of their to-do list. If teens aren’t at their afterschool job, they are completing numerous homework assignments or doing chores around the house. In addition to this, studies have shown that not only teens, but adults too, are becoming more sleep deprived over time, especially in industrialized countries. Nevertheless, teens have the most serious sleep deprivation struggles. William Dement, founder of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic stated, “I think high school is the real danger spot in terms of sleep deprivation… What it means is that nobody performs at the level they could perform.” Social and cultural factors have influenced the sleep deprivation problem among teens, as well as the invention of technology and a teenager’s biological tendency to sleep later, which leaves teenagers going to bed as much as two hours later than their younger counterparts.

While it is comforting to know that I am not the only teen dealing with trying to correct a bad sleep pattern, it is concerning to know how much this has affected teens of today’s age. Sleep deprivation can eventually lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other serious problems down the road – something that is very scary for many teens to think about since they are lacking in the amount of sleep they get. I think it has to be asked: Is there too much pressure put on teens to 1) make good grades, 2) be social in and outside of school, and 3) be active in sports and/or the community? The answer to this question could very likely encourage people to take action so that teens do not have to do so many things in order to get more of some much-needed rest.