Survey shows students suffer sleep shortage

In high school, students become increasingly tired each day, going to school with poor sleep schedules, fatigued bodies and overall, exhausted minds. In a recent survey of 210 students at CVHS, about 70% of them get seven hours or less of sleep, 32.9% getting seven, 24.3% with six hours, 6.7% with five hours and the remaining 4.8% getting four hours of sleep a night. 

In this survey, only 30% of respondents get eight hours or more, with 24.3% getting eight, 5.7% with nine, and 1.4% getting ten or more hours of sleep. 

According to a John Hopkins Medicine article, teens need between nine to nine and a half hours of sleep to grow and perform well. Yet, only 7.1% of CVHS students meet or exceed nine hours of sleep or more. 

When students were asked why they stayed up late, the majority explained they had lots of homework and participated in extracurricular activities. Several students also included how they had a hard time sleeping, even if they were tired. 

Teens who said they received eight hours of sleep or less said they felt tired in class most of the time, and that it affected their performance in sports. 

“(Lack of sleep) makes my academic performance poor as lack of sleep makes it difficult to focus,” said senior Natalie C.

Many other students also described a lack of motivation and difficulty focusing, especially in the afternoon and evenings when they start studying.

“How do you think your lack of sleep has affected your daily life, participation in class settings (maybe sports), and overall academic performance?” asked one survey question.  

“I think in a way it has slightly hindered my class performance because I have less energy in the day. And when I get home, I have a hard time starting (homework) because I am exhausted from practice and school,” answered sophomore Sebastian Plantilla. 

“It makes me really tired and less motivated to do things. It also causes me to sometimes blank/zone out, leading to me missing things,” said sophomore Sophia Kupferer.

CVHS health teacher David Judson shared similar observations. He explained how students who are sleep deprived fall asleep in class and lack focus. 

Judson believes students need at least eight hours of sleep and that schools need to find ways to support healthier sleeping habits.

 He emphasized how academic performance is affected by sleep deprivation. “Very much so because it affects your memory. It makes it harder to remember stuff for tests, to lock things in your long term memory, leads to sickness, which means missing class and it’s tough to makeup work,” Judson said. 

Lack of sleep not only affects students, but also affects the pace of the classroom.