Studies worldwide talk about the wonders of getting a good night’s sleep; however in interviews with various Oak Park High School students, a correlation was found that having less sleep is associated with higher GPAs and more academic success.
“On an average school day I normally get 6 and a half hours of sleep,” junior Renar Makhmud said. “But, I see myself as more productive when I go to bed at 11:30 pm, where I get around 8 hours of sleep.” Makhmud has a 3.8 GPA.
Sleep is essential for brain function, development and performance. Despite having high GPAs and many extracurricular activities, most people interviewed were found to get less than the CDC’s recommendation of 8-10 hours of sleep.
Out of 12 interviewees who reported success in school, all but one say that they all do not get the recommended requirement of 8-10 hours nightly. In other words only 1 of the interviewees who reported success hit the recommended amount of sleep nightly.
In contrast, the students with slightly lower GPAs (3.4 or less) tended to hit the recommended 8 hours nightly more frequently. Of the five interviewees with lower GPAs, only one said they hit the recommendation.
An explanation for this could be that successful students typically take on larger amounts of work.
“On a good day I spend about two-three hours on homework and studying,” Makhmud said. “When I procrastinate, I can spend upwards of 4 hours a day.”
Because of this, it’s possible that having more work equates to less sleep among students. It’s even more probable that this is the case because those interviewed with lower GPAs and, therefore, less work did report hitting the recommended 8 hours nightly.
“I probably spend one hour on homework nightly,” junior Johnathan Zhang said.
Zhang and the students who didn’t spend exceedingly long on homework but still had higher GPAs also got less sleep than the daily recommendation. This is evidence to the contrary that the “sleep deprivation” experienced by him and many others isn’t due to spending an excessive amount of time on homework.
So what is it that’s causing these successful students to experience less sleep than the recommended amount? Could it be that the CDC’s recommendation is just not practical? Are the students simply not being responsible enough? The answer will vary depending on who you ask.
“High levels of stress impair sleep by prolonging how long it takes to fall asleep and fragmenting sleep,” an article published by Kaylee Dusang at Baylor College of Medicine said.
This could lead some to conclude that high stress, experienced by many high school students, especially at OPHS, is the cause of successful students’ sleep deprivation.
Sleep is something teens often overlook when it comes to the choice of sleeping versus playing games or hanging out with their friends. This is the main contribution to the claim that students are more irresponsible.
“Revenge bedtime procrastination refers to the decision to delay sleep in response to stress or a lack of free time earlier in the day,” according to an article published by sleepfoundation.org.
This describes the same “lack of responsibility theory” that some may conclude. This provides evidence more extensive than the survey conducted at OPHS to suggest that this happens on a larger scale and can also happen at OPHS.
It is important to remember that the data collected was in a small sample of 17 students. It is possible that when a more extensive study is conducted that the
Whether you believe this issue is due to the high stress experienced by OPHS students, the workload, or just irresponsible kids, something needs to change if we want our students to be as healthy and successful as possible.
