By the time sophomore Jenny Tan gets home from cheerleading practice, it is already 7 p.m. and it is not until 8:30 p.m. that she finally starts her homework. Being in AP and honors courses, Tan spends most of her nights doing homework, taking notes and studying until 10 or 11 p.m. For Tan, sleep is not a priority. Sleep takes a backseat to school work and extracurricular activities.

“Technology is a problem for me. If I went to sleep right when I finish my homework, I could probably add another hour to my sleep, but between Facebook, Twitter and texting I’m up for another hour.,” Tan said.

Teenagers are so caught up in their lives and trying to do hundreds of things at once that they forget the importance of sleep.

Teenagers on average should receive about 9.25 hours of sleep, according to psychology teacher Jeff Norby.

The amount of sleep a person needs varies from person to person. Some people might need 10 hours to feel well rested while others may function with just eight.

This makes the school schedule so desirable because students could not function as well in the morning if they had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to be at school by 7 a.m.

“Researchers show that people your age have difficulty falling asleep much before 10:30 p.m., even if they go to bed before 10:30 p.m.,” Norby said.

Even a person who has the intention of going to sleep at 9:30 p.m., for multiple reasons, can not go to sleep.

When a person prepares for bed, assuming they will get nine hours of sleep but get seven instead, they are accumulating sleep debt. If a person misses two hours every day by the end of the week, that amounts to 10 hours of sleep that may never be recovered.

“There’s probably a number of students at school who don’t even know what it feels like to be well-rested because they never are,” Norby said.

Sleep may be recovered on the weekend, but the cycle will start all over again the following week. At this rate a person would never fully be well rested because their sleep routine would be off balance.

Students should practice good sleep hygiene. They need to create good sleep rituals that they can perform every night.

“I think my sleeping habits have been like this for so long that it is normal for me,” Tan said. “I still feel like my focus and learning ability are pretty good and I’m usually always in a good mood.”

Naps are a great way to get that pick me up after school. About 20-25 minutes is an appropriate amount of time for a quick nap.

Any longer than that and the ability to focus diminishes and actually makes it harder to concentrate. Again, this may not relate to every person but the majority of students can not function well if the nap is longer than 25 minutes.

“I probably wouldn’t take naps. I don’t really like them,” Babiarz said.” I would have to be really tired.”

By: Kaylinn Esparza