The real cause of student sleep deprivation

Students are tired, sleep-deprived, stressed, and in some cases miserable. It is a fact that in recent years, teenage students are not getting their CDC-recommended eight to ten hours of sleep a night. A big shift occurred in California schools through the passing of law SB 328, mandating that high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and middle schools no earlier than 8:00 a.m. 

SB 328 aligned with the simple logic that if students were to wake up later they would therefore have gotten more sleep, completely ignoring the fact that students will merely take these extra 20 to 30 minutes given to them in the morning and go to bed 20 to 30 minutes later at night. 

Let’s break down this problem logically. High school students’ lives are broken into two components: school time and private time. Students are given a set amount of school time that they must participate in, and the rest of the 24 hours is theirs to divide however they like between extracurriculars, homework, leisure time, and most importantly sleep. The well-meaning law, SB 328, did not actually extend students’ private time, making room for more sleep. It merely shifted the designated school hours, forcing administrations to lengthen the school day elsewhere. Students’ schedules are pushed back in the afternoon due to school’s required hours. This only causes a shift in schedule, not a shortening. Students get home later, eat later, do their homework later, and sleep later. Some kids even lose sleep due to scheduling issues such as their availability of transportation. Because their transportation schedule stays the same, they are forced to wake up at the same time as previous years while getting to sleep later. 

“I went to bed at like twelvish last year and woke up at 7:15,” said senior Cameron Huynh, “I go to bed at oneish now and wake up at 7:15.”

So if we can’t change the amount of designated school hours, how will we solve this problem? We have to stop majorly interfering with our students’ private time through stress-inducing homework, projects, and studying.

Huynh spoke on this saying, “Factors causing me to lose sleep is my phone and homework … basically stress. Always overthinking or worrying about things, you know?”

I am in no way saying that homework should be completely eliminated, I am instead advocating for a less stress-intensive alternative than the high-stakes homework we have as of now. Increasing the prevalence of standards-based grading is the best course of action we have. Reducing the impact that homework has on students’ grades shifts their priorities back to sleep. The ability to retake tests also relaxes students’ views towards studying deep into the night, which is actually harmful to their grades. 

While addressing the problem of student sleep deprivation, we must keep in mind the real cause of a bad night’s sleep: stress, overzealous homework loads, and unnecessary last-minute studying.