Beep beep! It’s time to start the day but you can’t get up. You’ve snoozed your alarm 10 times but nothing is working. Think about the last time you got a good night’s rest. Maybe you’re sleep deprived.

Getting the proper amount of sleep is vital to good health especially surrounding young adults. Less than half of American adolescents get the required 9-10 hours of sleep, resulting in 66% of teens in the U.S. being sleep deprived. This is due to many factors one of them being early school start times. Others may include “Family problems, stress with schoolwork, and sports” said Maria Lara, a student here, in an interview.

The amount of sleep you get affects your memory, mood, learning, coordination, creativity, focus, cognitive ability, and reaction time. In most cases, sleep deprivation can result in inflammation, high blood pressure, illness, and even death. It is also linked to diabetes and obesity.

The way sleep works is it goes in a cycle that consist of 5 stages. Each stage helps with something different. Whether that is getting rid of accumulated waste products between the brain cells, which is what makes you feel tired, repairing DNA, transitioning short term memory to long term, or replenishing the body. One cycle takes 90 minutes. The amount of cycles you go through depend on how many hours you sleep.  

It is that simple. All you have to do is sleep, and you will decrease your chances of stroke and improve your performance in school.  By sleeping more, you will be more happier, refreshed, and ready for whatever life throws your way. Next time you’re up late binge watching Netflix or studying for a test, drop everything and go to bed because health is more important.

– Citlali Perez  & Yuan Liu