The woes of high school students and their sleep schedules are perhaps one of the most documented issues that students face, including those at OHS. With busy schedules, extracurriculars, and personal pursuits, it can be difficult for students to fit in the recommended eight hours of sleep.
Due to this lack of proper sleep, several students have resorted to other forms of energy, with caffeinated drinks such as Alanis, Monsters, Celsius, or coffees, becoming staples in the OHS lifestyle.
“There are nights where I take a quick sip or two of an energy drink, but not a daily thing that’s for sure,” said Isaiah Asmare, junior.
Furthermore, many students feel that the advantages of such caffeinated drinks are not a viable replacement for proper sleep, as difficult as it may be to come by.
“I don’t think it’s a good replacement. I think it only works for an hour before you’re [tired],” said Madysen Thude, junior.
Without the common boosts of caffeine, some students have adapted unique sleeping habits in an attempt to balance both rest and work.
“Whenever I sleep in [3-hour] intervals, I usually have a big test the next day, and I’m really stressed about it”, said Saher Aulakh, senior. “So even if I’ve already done studying, my mind wakes me up and is anxious, so I try to calm my mind down [by studying].”
However, unsustainable schedules filled with caffeinated drinks and sleep schedules, some OHS students have claimed that they struggle to focus during the school day due to the lack of sleep.
“I, honestly, when I don’t sleep, my swimming takes a toll, and I just can’t focus during the school day,” Thude said.
This lack of focus is only made more impactful for students who take several advanced classes and have to balance between responsibilities and rest.
“I take quite a few classes – I take 5 APs, 2 of them are online, and 4 extra-curriculars,” Asmare said.
Some OHS students have been able to maintain balanced sleep schedules, which allow them to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night while also performing well academically.
“The lights are out by eight o’clock so that I can fall asleep easier,” said Illy Brown, sophomore.
Despite some OHS students being able to get the proper amount of sleep required to focus in their classes, the fact that it occasionally comes down to either studying or sleeping does not go unnoticed by classmates.
“The more sleep that you get, the more energy you’ll have to put into studying, but the less sleep you get could be correlated to how much homework you did the night before, and that could help you get more studying in that last night,” Asmare said.
