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As a high school student, one of my top priorities is getting enough sleep each night to properly recuperate from the somewhat stressful day and be recharged for the next day. However, I was presented with a dilemma not long after school started. I realized that it was virtually impossible to get enough sleep without sacrificing my grades. As the days went on, I learned many things, and I felt that they would be useful for other students to know.
To begin with, it is a well-known fact that teenagers are recommended to sleep eight hours each night. With that said, let’s look at a possible schedule of a high school student. He will wake up to go to school at 6 AM, and come back home from school at 3 PM. If the student wants eight hours of sleep, he will have to go to bed at 10. That leaves the student seven hours between when he comes home and when he goes to bed. Let’s say all the homework for the day would take three hours total if the student works for three hours straight. Of course, that’s impossible for most students, and that is perfectly fine.
In addition to homework, the student may have sports and other extracurricular commitments, taking two to three hours away from his day. That would mean that the student spent six hours total on just homework and extracurricular commitments on a regular day. That leaves only one hour for dinner and rest. As you can see, it is quite difficult for students to get enough sleep.
Moreover, in my high school, students are assigned much more than three hours of homework a day. I realized this the hard way, and survived on three to four hours of sleep on average on school days. However, I also came up with a few adjustments that made a big difference in the amount of sleep I got.
One thing I changed about myself is that I worked late into Friday night and Saturday nights, because I knew I could sleep in the next day. I also found time to enjoy life Friday and Saturday, but also got a lot of work done. I basically finish as much minor homework (homework that is not a project or an essay) for the whole upcoming week as possible on those days. On Sunday, I will do all the studying or the “big” homework. This lets me spend the most time possible on the important things without having to worry about other minor responsibilities.
Of course, it is not always possible to get all schoolwork done on the weekend. However, I will still spend less time during the week on homework. Nevertheless, there were always some nights where I knew that I would not finish all work while getting enough sleep. I even had” all nighters,” where I did not sleep at all.
My recommendations for these situations are as follows: If the remaining homework is a major project, it is worth staying up for. Conversely, if you feel much unprepared for a test or are doing minor homework, I would suggest sleeping over work. Just do as much as you can, but make sure to get at least 5 - 6 hours of sleep. I was able to prove throughout my years in high school that getting more sleep while knowing 70% of the material yields better results than knowing 90% of the material but not getting enough sleep. Once, on a math test, I put down E as the answer to a multiple choice question that had only A through D as the possible choices. This was due to a three hour sleep the night before.
If you absolutely cannot allow sacrificing your grade, I would suggest a more radical solution. Go to bed very early, even right after dinner. But first, figure out how many hours you would like to spend on your work. Then wake up early enough to spend the wanted time on working before you go to school. I felt that in the morning, I was much less distracted, and much more focused. I also did not feel tired even if I did not get as much sleep as I wanted.
In sum, getting enough sleep is very important for any student. Most of the time, you can have enough sleep and get good grades. However, when this is not possible, I felt that my ways worked the best. Of course, I truly believe that none of my methods would be needed if I had excellent time management. I know a few friends who take very difficult courses and have lots of homework, but still get amazing grades and enough sleep. They all attribute this to good time management. So before you try my methods, I would suggest reviewing how you spend your time. You may be surprised how much time you can save by not using Facebook or YouTube.
Seungho Lee
T.J. High School
Intern for Christianity Daily
To begin with, it is a well-known fact that teenagers are recommended to sleep eight hours each night. With that said, let’s look at a possible schedule of a high school student. He will wake up to go to school at 6 AM, and come back home from school at 3 PM. If the student wants eight hours of sleep, he will have to go to bed at 10. That leaves the student seven hours between when he comes home and when he goes to bed. Let’s say all the homework for the day would take three hours total if the student works for three hours straight. Of course, that’s impossible for most students, and that is perfectly fine.
In addition to homework, the student may have sports and other extracurricular commitments, taking two to three hours away from his day. That would mean that the student spent six hours total on just homework and extracurricular commitments on a regular day. That leaves only one hour for dinner and rest. As you can see, it is quite difficult for students to get enough sleep.
Moreover, in my high school, students are assigned much more than three hours of homework a day. I realized this the hard way, and survived on three to four hours of sleep on average on school days. However, I also came up with a few adjustments that made a big difference in the amount of sleep I got.
One thing I changed about myself is that I worked late into Friday night and Saturday nights, because I knew I could sleep in the next day. I also found time to enjoy life Friday and Saturday, but also got a lot of work done. I basically finish as much minor homework (homework that is not a project or an essay) for the whole upcoming week as possible on those days. On Sunday, I will do all the studying or the “big” homework. This lets me spend the most time possible on the important things without having to worry about other minor responsibilities.
Of course, it is not always possible to get all schoolwork done on the weekend. However, I will still spend less time during the week on homework. Nevertheless, there were always some nights where I knew that I would not finish all work while getting enough sleep. I even had” all nighters,” where I did not sleep at all.
My recommendations for these situations are as follows: If the remaining homework is a major project, it is worth staying up for. Conversely, if you feel much unprepared for a test or are doing minor homework, I would suggest sleeping over work. Just do as much as you can, but make sure to get at least 5 - 6 hours of sleep. I was able to prove throughout my years in high school that getting more sleep while knowing 70% of the material yields better results than knowing 90% of the material but not getting enough sleep. Once, on a math test, I put down E as the answer to a multiple choice question that had only A through D as the possible choices. This was due to a three hour sleep the night before.
If you absolutely cannot allow sacrificing your grade, I would suggest a more radical solution. Go to bed very early, even right after dinner. But first, figure out how many hours you would like to spend on your work. Then wake up early enough to spend the wanted time on working before you go to school. I felt that in the morning, I was much less distracted, and much more focused. I also did not feel tired even if I did not get as much sleep as I wanted.
In sum, getting enough sleep is very important for any student. Most of the time, you can have enough sleep and get good grades. However, when this is not possible, I felt that my ways worked the best. Of course, I truly believe that none of my methods would be needed if I had excellent time management. I know a few friends who take very difficult courses and have lots of homework, but still get amazing grades and enough sleep. They all attribute this to good time management. So before you try my methods, I would suggest reviewing how you spend your time. You may be surprised how much time you can save by not using Facebook or YouTube.
Seungho Lee
T.J. High School
Intern for Christianity Daily
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