Junior Frank Rivera sleepily rubs his eyes as he wakes up at the early hour of 6 a.m. and begins getting prepared for another day of school. He went to bed at 3:30 a.m. giving him a grand total of two and half hours of sleep to get him ready for the day ahead. Groggily, he dresses himself in whatever clothes are near and heads downstairs. He denies the breakfast the mom made him, too tired to eat. He was up late doing homework, something he has been extremely familiar with his entire high school career.
“I probably sleep a total of three hours a night. I am up late doing homework and studying most nights. I am very self-motivated, but sometimes I find myself procrastinating. It’s a mix of being over worked and teachers assigning too much work and procrastination,” said Rivera.
Whether it’s more the student’s fault or the teacher’s, students are up too late doing work. It is starting to effect performance in class. Students drowsily walking into class with a double shot espresso is not an uncommon sight in classrooms at Tompkins.
“I think it affects my performance because of how sleep deprived I am. I do good on tests and quizzes because I study so much, but for people who just procrastinate and then stay up so late that they do not have time to study is a different story. They are functioning on not enough sleep and relying on blurred memories from days ago to recall information,” said Rivera.
Teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep each night to function best. Most teens do not get enough sleep — one study found that only 15 percent reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights. Other studies have shown that students perform worse when sleep deprived. The lack of focus and inability to concentrate take a toll on not only grades, but also the student’s mental health. Many students find themselves experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety brought on by lack of sleep.
“I think everyone should have some type of planner or organization system. It helps tremendously with getting your week in order and letting you know which days you have to get ahead and when you have test,” said Rivera
Though he does procrastinate, Rivera has a system for organization. This can be what a lot of his success is accredited to. Rivera is an organized straight A student who, though he does not get a healthy amount of sleep, is very successful. It ultimately comes down to the student and how well they know themselves.
“I have a planner with a different color highlighter for each class. I also put any reminders at the top of the page for anything that’s due a week or more in the future like projects or tests and quizzes,” said Rivera
