the priority of sleep

With a new nine weeks approaching at Bryant High School, students have a lot to be getting prepared for such as final exams and sports. With these preparations, some necessities such as getting enough rest can be a struggle. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 73% of high school students don’t get the recommended amount of sleep. Students express how their sleep patterns affect them emotionally and academically.

Lack of sleep in teenagers can affect their behaviors and emotions in their everyday lives. Junior Sydney Morgan explains her experience with sleepiness.

“It makes me all over the place. I feel scattered and just a range of emotions,” Morgan said.

Morgan also stated how her performance at school has been affected by sleep loss, as she has to catch up on sleep during her classes.

“I sleep in class every day. This is the first week where I haven’t slept in all my classes. Most of the time I’ll sleep first through fourth period just on [a] daily basis. It’s really bad,” Morgan said.

According to Washington University in St. Louis, in a study published by Psychology, Health & Medicine, the students who reported the most stable, consistent sleep patterns earned a GPA of 3.66, on average, while the students with the most variable sleep earned a GPA of 3.21. Students with regular sleep patterns also reported higher levels of well-being. These effects held even when controlling for SAT scores and baseline happiness.

Another contributing factor to sleep loss can be self-care.

“I don’t take care of myself enough. I don’t sleep at night.

I don’t do things when I’m supposed to,” Morgan said.

According to verywellhealth. com, self-care to improve sleep, just like other forms of selfcare, is not one size fits all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that people keep a sleep diary if they want to develop better sleep habits.

With all of these factors affecting teenagers’ sleep cycle, another big concern can be technology. Junior Daniel Cruz explains that his challenges with sleep often come from his phone.

“I think it’s technology or my phone, it’s super addicting just to keep scrolling,” Cruz said.

According to AAST, The Sleep Health Foundation reports that bright light from mobile phones, tablets, computers and televisions blocks the release of the sleep hormone, melatonin after only 1.5 hours of using technology in the evening.

Cruz also stated that he is emotionally affected by sleep loss.

According to aboutkidshealth.ca, some symptoms sleep deprivation can be emotional. Some symptoms are an increase in moodiness, increased impulsivity and increased stress.

“I usually feel very stressed out. I feel like I’m on a timer,” Cruz said.

Morgan stated that another reason for delays in her sleep cycle is that her schedule is too time consuming. “I don’t have time for [sleep].

Sometimes I’m not tired. Other times I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I have to stay up and do all of this.”

However, according to caringforkids.cps.ca, there are many techniques and methods that can potentially help with sleep loss. These include; exercising everyday, avoiding caffeine, and limiting your screen time.

Senior Amelia Upton explained how colorguard burns energy out which helps her and possibly other students.

“I’m in colorguard and so I learned that if I don’t get enough sleep, I don’t get the right nutrition in my body. I become so much more tired and aggressive with people. It definitely makes me more tired, it definitely makes me fall more asleep a lot easier like I just go home, eat dinner and then I crash,” Upton said.

STORY BY: ERIN TAYLOR

GRAPHIC BY: ERIN TAYLOR

s students enter their senior year, their minds might be occupied by homework, extracurriculars and jobs, but one of the biggest responsibilities many seniors have to worry about is applying to colleges. Throughout the year, many seniors will apply to several colleges and universities, going through multiple rounds of essays and interviews in hopes of getting into their desired school.

Many factors go into college admissions, ranging from ACT and SAT scores to extracurricular activities. Some students feel that they have to navigate the college application process on their own.

“I wish I had more people around me to help,” senior Regan Hinson said. “No one in my family has had to apply to college for at least 10 years, and things have changed enough that I really had to figure most of it out myself. I am really thankful for what help I was able to get, though.”

The college admissions system has changed in the past few years, including the addition of test-optional policies, which don’t require students to submit ACT or SAT scores as part of their application. Many schools adopted test-optional policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and have kept them as part of their admissions policy, including the University of Arkansas. According to Radeanna Garcia, a senior admissions counselor at the University of Arkansas, test optional policies can be beneficial to students.

“I think having a test optional pathway is really great,” Garcia said. “I think for some students that maybe just struggle with standardized testing, I think that is a benefit to have a test optional for them as well.”

Although many students agree that test optional policies are beneficial, they still have mixed opinions about standardized testing and the impact it can have on admissions.

“Some people, myself included, have test anxiety and get super stressed while taking these standardized tests because of how important they are,” senior Mary Beth James said. “It’s fair for the students that do very well on them but not fair for the students that don’t.”

Many students take the ACT multiple times in order to improve their score, and a single test typically costs $60. However, not all students can afford to take the ACT multiple times, and while fee waivers may be available, lower income students are at a disadvantage when it comes to ACT scores. According to the official ACT website, in 2016, students with an annual family income above $80,000 had an average composite score of around 23. In comparison, students with an annual family income less than $80,000 had an average composite score of around 19.

While preparing for the ACT, students may simultaneously have to worry about balancing college applications with their school responsibilities. When students are working on college and scholarship applications alongside their school assignments, they can become overwhelmed by the amount of deadlines they have approaching. In fact, some students may choose college and scholarship applications over their schoolwork.

“The college application process has made me ignore some of my homework and school responsibilities because of how important it is for me to get money to be able to go to college,” James said. “I had an AP Psych test this week and have barely even studied for it this week because of how much I have been focused on scholarships.”

Even with all the work students put into applications, they still might not feel that it’s enough to get them admitted to their desired schools.

“The biggest challenge wasn’t actually a part of the process but more of having the confidence in my academics and my accomplishments to apply,” Hinson said. “While filling out applications, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be accepted anywhere purely because of not feeling like my academics [were] impressive enough.

Although the college application season can seem daunting, Garcia says that one of the best things students can do is plan ahead.

“Once you’re in that area where you’re taking any kind of course that’s going to be on your high school transcript, that’s really when this whole process starts,” Garcia said. “So making sure they’re taking advantage of those college days to visit campuses, coming and talking to colleges when they come to visit their school, you know, attending college fairs, just to get an idea of what universities are available can really help that process. [If] they know the dates, know the deadlines, that will help that process go a