by Madeleine Burke 

As highschool students (especially at HB) a sense of pride is put upon lack of sleep. “Oh you got 6 hours of sleep last night, well I only got 4” seems to be a phrase passing through the hallways daily. Although physicians recommend 7-9 hours per night, there seems to be an exception for highschool students. Instead of recharging our brains every night, we decide to show up to school as a zombie trudging down the halls. We view a full night of sleep as laziness and prefer to study or watch Netflix until dawn. We think that sleeping less makes us resilient, but in truth it only slows us down. What we should do is set up a healthier sleep schedule around school.  

However, having a healthy sleep schedule isn’t as easy as it seems. Studying, assignments, and extracurriculars seem to serve as a constant barrier to being well rested. So what are some steps to take to start building that healthy sleep schedule? There are three easy tips: 

  1. Always avoid caffeine before bedtime. 
  2. Make a routine, make your body accustomed to going to bed at earlier times. 
  3. Don’t stare at electronic devices right before you go to sleep. 

These facts are told to us all the time, but they’re pretty difficult to follow. To better follow these rules, a sense of importance needs to be put on our sleep schedules. While it’s possible to get through the day on only 4 hours, to function completely our brain requires more. Sleeping 8 hours will help your brain perform much better in school than 4 hours could. Sleep is also essential to memory and recalling information. Thus why it’s important to get a lot of sleep before a test. Sleep can change the entire way your day goes and how you perform, whether in a really hard class or at a sports game, you need your brain and your brain needs sleep. 

So the next time someone brags to you about the 3 hours of sleep they got the night before, remember, this isn’t really something to strive for. Sleep isn’t an enemy. It’s not laziness to let your brain reset every night. In the end, it’s probably better to put the textbook down and get a full night’s sleep in order to do your best the next day.