Every student at the high school has had at least one school night where they received less than five hours of sleep. Some students have issues with getting enough sleep almost every day.

The most common medical sleep disorders include sleep apnea and insomnia, which is more common among students, according to Melissa Turner, medical doctor.

“Mostly what we see are kids who have bad sleep hygiene, [which means] they don’t go to bed at the same time and they don’t wake up at the same time, so they have trouble sleeping,” Turner said.

Students such as Danielle Fewkes, sophomore, have been struggling with sleep issues since the beginning of high school.

“I think freshman year was probably the worst because it’s a new school, there’s new people, and it’s way harder than middle school,” Fewkes said. “So it’s hard to get as much sleep as you need when you’re stressed out about an assignment or project coming up, or even people at school.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently released a statement claiming that the hour schools began at is too early for the student brain to fully function. The statement recommends that classes should start no earlier than 8:30am.

“High school kids have a later circadian rhythm, so the brain-clock chemistry wants them to go to bed later and wants them to wake up later,” Turner said, “I think some of that might have to do with their job in revolutionary times. They were the one who were probably staying up and keeping everyone safe late at night.”

There are a number of things students can do to prevent sleep issues during their school year. Some of them include, trying to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, and avoid the use of any backlit screens one to two hours before sleep, according to Turner.

“I know it’s painful to wake up around school time on a weekend,” Turner said. “But you’re going to feel better on Monday if you actually wake up around school time.”