Editorial: Are You Sleepy?

by: Erin C.

Are you tired at more than normal? Or have you been getting sick more? Well than you might not be getting enough sleep than you should!! Studies show that teens need 8 ½ to 9 hours asleep a night. That means that if you wake up at 6 than you should be going to bed around 9. A lot of teenagers these days don’t go to bed until 10 or 11. That means you are loosing 1-2 hours of sleep each night.

There are many reasons why teens don’t go to bed until later. Some reasons are they are texting or talking on the phone into the late hours. Or also some popular TV shows don’t even come on until 9, so after the show its 10. There are bad points to watching TV before going to bed, for example, your brain associates the light from the TV with daytime and tricks your body into thinking it is actually daytime so it’s harder for you to go to bed because your body has to recognize its time for bed again.

You may not know it but not getting enough sleep is actually REALLY bad for your body. Sleep loss increases the risk of you getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes and becoming obese as you get older. You not getting enough sleep also shows the next day. Sleep deprivation has an effect on how the brain stores information. Studies show that children with just one more hour of sleep did better on a test than the kids without that one hour. This is because sleep affects memory and attention. So my best advice is, before a big test, get plenty of sleep!!

There are many distractions these days that can keep us from getting enough sleep at night. But you have to remember how you feel the next morning after not getting enough sleep and maybe that will help you to get to bed on time. Sweet Dreams!!