Do Jobs and School Affect Sleep?

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Joey Altobello, Staff Writer

Teenagers are not getting enough sleep. Students are extremely busy with jobs, school, and sports. Recently, some schools have reduced their school week to four days to give students more free time. Many students at GHS have jobs and play sports. Sleep can easily be disrupted because of students spending a lot of time on their responsibilities like working or going to school. An average teenager is supposed to get nine and a half hours of sleep each night. So are these teens getting that amount?

Sarah Allen, a GHS senior, says, “Working prevents you from doing other things.”  Students feel like they should have more time outside of school and work to relax. Sarah also notes, “I work three days a week and go to bed at eleven thirty.” Students have things to do outside of school and work too like homework, family time, and most importantly sleep so they can be focused and energized.

Students are not getting enough sleep and have very busy weeks.  “I work around twenty five hours a week and have to get up at eight in the morning each Saturday and Sunday for work,” says Aidan Chouinard, a senior at GHS and an employee at Hannaford’s Supermarket. “My grades start to go down when I work a lot and don’t sleep well.” Teenagers need more sleep than adults to be focused and awake, so something needs to be done. A lot of students don’t even get to have weekends because their weekends are filled with sports or jobs.