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How much sleep do you think high schoolers need? How much do you get?

By Welshie (Welshie) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 03:31 am: Edit

Need? That's sort of a relative term or, at least, a term with multiple meanings/interpretations. I think some high schoolers need only 3 hours of sleep to operate (I was one of them). I think the majority need around 6 hours to operate and 8 to operate at maximum efficiency. Granted, the body is adaptable-- get it conditioned to accept 3 hours of sleep and it will. On average, I'd say high schoolers get between 5-6 hours of sleep. Not because their homework was too long or anything like that but because they procrastinate, both their homework and their sleep.

By Twinkletoes696 (Twinkletoes696) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 03:41 am: Edit

The amount of sleep "needed" (for the body and mind to function as well as possible) for a teen ranges, but experts say it's 9.25 hours. Seriously, though, who has time for that much sleep? Seven hours is probably a good healthy amount for anyone. During high school I averaged about 2/2.5 hours of sleep with an occasional short nap during the day, but I'd go anywhere between 0-4. (Which I would not recommend)

By Bobmarley (Bobmarley) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 10:33 am: Edit

I'd say the need is about 8 hours, I usually get 5 on weekdays, depends on the weekends really. Anywhere from 14 hours if I don't have a meet or race the next day, to 2 if I go out and do have a meet (stupid stupid stupid).

By Vtoodler (Vtoodler) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:39 am: Edit

like bobmarley said, high schoolers need about 8-9 hrs of sleep. However, I get about 6 hrs on the weekdays and about 10.5 hrs on the weekends.

By Idiias (Idiias) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 01:10 pm: Edit

"During high school I averaged about 2/2.5 hours of sleep"

no offense, but she must have really bad time management. Even if you don't get home til 10:00 pm you should not have that much homework and studying to do. No way. I'd have really late nights, but would always get 6-8 hours of sleep. But I think for alot of us in high school, there'd be a certain time where we can longer stay up...or it's useless trying to do homework and/or study.

By Cheershopgrl (Cheershopgrl) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Yeah, that's true. I mean my best friend and I took all the same AP and honor classes, and I would go to sleep at 11 or 12 while she would stay up until 2. I was invovled with A LOT more time consuming extra curriculars. I think it's because I was more focused and concentrated on my homework than she was. She would often take many breaks and procrastinate a lot. We both got the same grades, except she got an A- in LA while I got an A.

For sleep, I think teens need 8-9. In the summer I get 9 hrs some days... Maximum efficiency: 8, six is probably average, you get tired in the evening, anything below six headaches start coming up, lots of yawning, difficulty concentrating... I remember I traveled overseas and because of the time switch I slept only 2 hrs a day for the first week. it was horrible.

By Asianalto (Asianalto) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 02:17 pm: Edit

Brown University did some study about the amount of sleep people got and their corresponding grades. It was kind of dumb though, because the kids who got Bs were charted as having 14 fewer minutes of sleep than the kids who got As. Granted, that's an average, but I think mainly the study showed that for most people, it didn't really matter as much as people might think.

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 02:22 pm: Edit

Hhhhmmm...I think that study was on my English Regents' Exam.

By Aim78 (Aim78) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 02:43 pm: Edit

So far I've been getting 6 or 7. I get tired more easily now, having gotten used to 9-10 hours over the summer (12 hours at the beginning of summer). I also notice that I get SHORTER as the day goes by. When I come home and stand by the refrigerator, it looks much bigger than it does in the morning. The less sleep I get, the more my spine contracts.

By Ml41588 (Ml41588) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 03:25 pm: Edit

they say 9.25 hours? i wish i got that. i dont know if i'd function better, beccause a lot of the time i feel like im most tired after sleeping a really long time than just waking up. during the school year i get around 5.5 hrs

By Demonllama (Demonllama) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 05:24 pm: Edit

needed: 9.25 hours
average that teens get: 7.25 hours
me: 6-7 hours

By Burkenfaso (Burkenfaso) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 08:19 pm: Edit

If you sleep for a long time, say 14 hours, you grow a couple of inches taller because gravity isn't pushing on your spine. I was taller than my mom for a short, sweet while

By Asianalto (Asianalto) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 08:35 pm: Edit

Candi: yes, I was doing a practice regents and that's where I saw it!

By Zero (Zero) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 09:32 pm: Edit

weekends for me was 10-14 hrs...becuase i felt like it. weekdays, i could've slept 10 hrs, but i never like going to bed before midnight so it ended up usually being 5-6, plus an hour or two of napping during the day.

By Paulhomework (Paulhomework) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 10:26 pm: Edit

lol i really hope you guys who get less than 4 hours on average don't develop any serious medical conditions. But I just can't see how you can justify that. Hell I'd rather go to a community college than MIT if it means more than 4 hours of sleep per night.

I get around 6 btw.

By Alita (Alita) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:30 pm: Edit

I think if you go look at the twinkle threads you will see why she only had 2/2.5 hrs of sleep a night.

By Entropicgirl (Entropicgirl) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:37 pm: Edit

Mmm, I usually get seven or eight. I actually get LESS during the summer, because it's such a luxury for me to be allowed to stay up late. I'm off the computer at 8:30 every schoolnight, and if I haven't done my homework, sucks to be me.
So, uh, I'm really really efficient. And applying to HPS, so I guess this can be a test of the feasibility of getting into an ubercompetitive college without killing yourself...

By Twinkletoes696 (Twinkletoes696) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 08:44 pm: Edit

Idiias- my time management, considering the amount of homework/studying that I had and EC/out of school activities (I do admit that my plate was a bit overloaded, but I enjoyed myself most of the time) was actually pretty darn good. There were nights where I was surprised that I had time for any sleep. There was a lot of multi-tasking involved. Although I will admit being social did cut into sleep at times and if I wasn't so fussy about how I looked I could have gotten at least another hour of sleep. But I also could have not rolled out of bed and just went to school- when you're running meetings or going to work possibly without any time to change/fix your hair or whatever the extra time spent in the morning is worth it.

To me, sleeping vs. doing everything in my power to make sure I was going 100% all of the time in order to maximize my chances for success was really worth it. Now I'd be a little more careful in strict time management and amount of commitments taken on- not sleeping enough takes a toll on your body. I probably got more colds/viruses than I did as a senior (although part of that was in due to the nature of my work with kids) than I did as a kid. I was stressed a lot (a bit burnt at one point), but I felt as if pretty everything I was doing was well worth it. No regrets.

By Bluealien01 (Bluealien01) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 08:15 am: Edit

2 hours??? What is wrong with you people? I mean doing that once or twice is okay, but again and again cannot possibly be healthly. Homework is not worth ones health.

By Patr1ck (Patr1ck) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 08:31 am: Edit

My boarding schools like this; we go to sleep @ 11PM but c'mon who does? Were in our dorms talking and stuff. Then we wake up at around 7 and go to breakfast then we go to chapel and everyone sleeps there

By Emswim (Emswim) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 08:44 am: Edit

It varies person to person. I need about 8, but most days I'm lucky to get 6.

By Drake (Drake) on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 06:06 am: Edit

I sleep for 6 or 7 hours on avergae. However, once school started last week, I've been falling asleep without doing my homework. I've gotten the minimal done in time though, except for a pop quiz in chemistry (I wish I revieweeeddddd!!!!!!!!!)

By Twinkletoes696 (Twinkletoes696) on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 06:11 am: Edit

"2 hours??? What is wrong with you people?"

Lack of time? Being excessively driven? Being overloaded, or worse yet, making some poor choices re: use of time?

I really don't have the stamina for that anymore though (going for days and days on barely any sleep)- I used to do it and just be so focused on everything that I was doing that I could just keep. The desire to be great outweighed making sure I got enough sleep. It's hard to explain that when you want something so badly (and are a perfectionist to boot), you will do something like go without sleep if it means that you get to accomplish everything that you want, have a great social life, do well at school in and out of the classroom, etc. Not to go on unnecessarily (and this is important) but really, in the long run, you can't stay at the top of your game if you trash your body... so I've been a lot more conscientious of making sure I try to get close to enough sleep and balance things really well.

By Techiedork (Techiedork) on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 04:17 pm: Edit

last year: 6-8

but that was without aps/honors

this year...i'm projecting 4-6. more drama productions = more late nights at school = less work done before 10

:p

By Jsberting (Jsberting) on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 09:47 am: Edit

last year = 12 lol :D , this year = 9~

By Girlforever101 (Girlforever101) on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 11:05 am: Edit

I go to bed at 10-11, and my alarm goes off at 4:30, but I don't acutally get out of bed until 5. So I get about 6-7 hours of sleep.