How many times have you heard your classmates remark about tired they are?

  On my first day back at school, I found one of my own classmates fast asleep! 

  As I am adjusting to school, I’m wondering; is it possible for high schoolers to find a healthy balance between sleep and school work?

  In my freshmen year, on average, I only got seven hours of sleep. I heard my friends got even less!

  High school students actually need eight to ten hours of sleep every night. However, according to a study from the National Sleep Foundation, only fifteen percent of teens said they had eight and a half hours of sleep! 

  During my freshman year, I would usually stay up late during the school week and attempt to “catch up” on the weekends. 

  Unfortunately, I was not aware that said lifestyle would do more harm than help.

  As I’m getting back into the school dynamic as a sophomore, I’m especially focusing on finding a healthy balance between my homework and my sleep. 

  One of the first steps for a better night’s sleep is making sleep a priority. Then, making a sleep schedule and maintaining it will signal the body every night that it’s time to sleep. Calming activities, like reading, can also help you fall asleep! But staying up late because of your phone will do the exact opposite!

  It’s also important to have a good quality of sleep! Sleep quality is how fast you fall asleep with little to no awakenings during the night. 

  A bad sleep quality can leave you tired with incessant yawns during class. But when done right, it can leave you feeling ready to take on the day!

  If I do use my phone when I’m going to bed, it’s for tracking my sleep!

  There are numerous apps that can track your sleep; I personally use the app called Sleep Cycle. Every night, I can set up my alarm and it gives me a “wake-up window” of thirty minutes to help me wake up feeling my best. It also tracks the quantity and quality of your sleep. 

  The app also provides a “journal” tab of all the times you’ve used the app to track your sleep.

  Our high school careers will contain a vast amount of challenges, but sleep shouldn’t have to be an additional obstacle.

  As long as we put in the effort to create a consistent routine, good sleep can be plentiful for you throughout the school year!