Sophomore Siena Zylstra’s eyes flutter as she fights to stay awake while getting ready for track practice. It was a sacrifice for a good score on her chemistry test, but her late night studying compromised her ability to work hard throughout her entire school day.
Multiple SCHS students often choose school work over sleep. Zylstra, a track runner, stays up late multiple times in a week. She mentioned how not only does staying up late affect her during the school day but also during her track practices.
Zylstra mentioned that when she is tired, she does not feel the need to push herself at practice.
“I usually don’t want to work hard, I usually don’t try my best and I don’t push myself, which I need to do to improve,” Zylstra said.
Similar to Zylstra, junior Tanisha Jain’s schedule is filled with AP classes, and she pulls all-nighters once every couple of weeks to stay on top of her work.
“It’s good when you have a plan of what to do at night, but if you are pretty lost, then it only adds to your stress,” Jain said.
Additionally, Jain is an athlete who is a part of the SCHS badminton team. Due to committing her time to badminton, Jain is compelled to stay up later in order to complete her work. She shared her experience of being a student athlete with time-consuming classes.
“You have less time at home to be doing your homework. It also hurts your performance because you’ll be more tired,” Jain said.
Junior Danna Cruz used to stay up late and occasionally pulled all-nighters, but she has since learned how to manage her time better. Cruz mentioned how the psychology class she took made her realize the importance of sleep and studying day after day rather than cramming.
“Now, I’m trying to plan out when to study in fragments instead of in all one night and cramming it in because it is psychologically proven that it does not work,” Cruz said.
Cruz thinks night is the most productive part of the daygain, mentioning a fact she learned about the difference between teenagers and adults when it comes to sleep schedules.
“Our circadian cycle is so much different compared to adults because teenagers typically stay awake at night.”
English teacher Elizabeth Kelly reads books in her free time and reflected on some authors’ routines as a writer. She learned they prioritize sleep and wake up earlier to get their word-counts in.
“They all say that they get up really early when it’s quiet and nobody else is up, and that’s when they pump out a bunch of pages,” Kelly said.
Kelly reflected on her past self early in her teaching career. She would stay up late grading and preparing for her classes while getting less sleep. Over the years, she has changed her routine through organization.
“I didn’t know how to manage the mass of paper load of being an English teacher, which is different than other disciplines,” Kelly said. “It took me a long time to figure out how to have the students doing more work and me doing less work.”
Although Zylstra pulls all-nighters, she thinks sleep is important, believing it should be prioritized when work can be delayed until morning.
“It’s worth it to sleep. You can always find time throughout the day, or the next day, to fit in whatever you need to do,” Zylstra said.