By Lauren Miller
Managing Editor of Opinions
Sleep….the word that tickles the minds of adolescents and adults alike, the word that instantly causes a longing for a warm blanket and a pillow, but also a word that often causes anxiety.
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), teens need between eight and ten hours of sleep per night to function at the highest possible level. The NSF also asserts that failing to reach this sleep quite can result in a limited ability “to learn, listen, concentrate and solve problems.” Too bad these skills are necessary in nearly every classroom nationwide, because most teens do not get nearly this much sleep.
With the MCAS schedule this past week, however, students who did not have to take the exam were given full opportunity to sleep in.
Junior Zoe Gelch describes how she felt after the extra sleep.
“[I was] much more productive, and able to focus more in class after sleeping in,” Gelch said. Not only did she get to sleep in (and not wake up to an alarm!), she was able to take the time to eat breakfast with a friend. And this, she adds, “helped me to de-stress in the midst of maintaining a crazy schedule.”
I have to say, waking up to the rays of sunshine trickling through my window is certainly nicer than the reality of waking up in total darkness at 6:30 am, as I do on most school mornings. Despite having the day cut short with only a few blocks, I can vouch for feeling sharper and more focused as soon as I shut off my alarm. So the tirelessly debated question remains: should the school start time be pushed back?
I believe it should. There would need to be kinks worked out, and I am not hoping for any radical change, but even a single hour would make a world of difference. Because I can say that without fail, I am tired at 7:40am. It doesn’t really matter what time I go to bed, my finger will always miraculously end up hovering over the “snooze” button as my mind attempts to scream “LAUREN, NO!”
We should all take a moment to thank the MCAS. Even if you had to suffer through the long comp this year, your turn will come to be grateful for those extra hours of shut-eye in the coming years. And hopefully one day soon students will be able to wake up and not feel overly-tired on any average school day. The system will never be perfect, but I would much rather start my day more focused and with the sun than groggily peel myself out of bed and into the darkness.
