No Rest for the Weary, or in our case, HIGH SCHOOLERS
Out of all the demands high school places on students, sleep may be the most costly sacrifice. As a sophomore who has spent countless late nights writing essays and studying for tests, I understand firsthand that sleep deprivation is not simply about feeling tired the next day; it reflects a system that expects us to operate at full capacity while quietly wearing us down.
During adolescence, our bodies go through a natural shift called a circadian phase delay, meaning our internal clocks naturally push our sleep schedules later. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), teenagers' melatonin production is delayed by about two hours compared to adults, making it biologically harder for teens to fall asleep early.
Compound this biological reality with the fact that over 80% of high schools in the U.S start before 8:30, despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to push back start times for middle school and high school students. Early start times are associated with worse academic performance, higher rates of tardiness and greater absenteeism among adolescents. We are expected to be alert and ready to learn when our bodies are still wired for sleep. For students enrolled in AM classes or those part of the Samo surf team, this is a particularly apparent issue, as many have to wake up before 6 am every morning while continuously staying up late to complete work. Josephine Ashford (’28), a member of the Samo surf team, shares her experience with having to wake up early for practice.
“Practice starts at 6:30 and ends at 7:45 am, which gives kids little to no time to shower or prepare for the school day after practice. I have to wake up so early every morning to surf and then I have to also go through a full school day on top of that…,” Ashford said. “The days just build up and it gets pretty hard to find the motivation to do school work when all you want to do is catch up on sleep.”
Meanwhile, the workload outside of school hours has continued to grow. A Stanford University study found that students at competitive high schools average more than three hours of homework per night. Between studying for six separate classes, participating in extracurriculars, practicing for sports and trying to maintain healthy friendships and family connections, sleep very quickly becomes an afterthought or even just the uninterrupted time to lie and stress out about all the things you should be doing at that moment instead of sleeping. Luisa De Lorenzo (’25), a Samo student currently taking psychology and planning to major in it, emphasizes the mental toll of poor sleep.
“Sleep affects every part of your life, from energy to appetite and focusing; in psychology, we do a full unit on sleep and people don't realize how much you need enough sleep, it's a full body reset that is literally required to function,” De Lorenzo said. “For big procrastinators like myself, when things are due at 11:59, they will be turned in at 11:58; little things like that make it so much harder for kids to get adequate sleep every night.”
I have lost count of the number of times I've stayed up late studying only to find myself struggling to recall basic information during a test the next day. If we are too exhausted to think clearly, it raises many ethical questions. Who exactly is benefiting from this model?
The physical consequences of sleep deprivation are far more damaging and widespread than most realize; chronic lack of sleep elevates cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for the body's stress response. Prolonged high cortisol levels impair immune system function, increase inflammation and raise the risk of developing chronic diseases later in life. Every finals season, I see classmates burn out or become physically sick simply because their bodies cannot withstand the pressure.
Beyond academics and physical health, sleep deprivation severely impacts emotional well-being. It makes it harder to manage stress, regulate emotions and maintain a positive outlook. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), lack of sleep in teens is strongly linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression. It is troubling that exhaustion has become so normalized that many students wear their sleeplessness like a badge of honor, as if being perpetually tired proves their dedication to school. When late-night study sessions and emotional breakdowns over assignments are treated as ordinary parts of the high school experience, it is clear that the system is failing us. We are not machines that can operate without rest and we deserve an education system that recognizes and supports that reality. No GPA, no exam score and no college acceptance letter is worth sacrificing our health over. It is time we stop glorifying burnout and start building a definition of success that supports us; we are smart enough to know better and courageous enough to demand change.
