Sleep half the day, stay up all night. Students have been spending time on their own wants and responsibilities, which results in unpredictable sleep patterns. It ultimately has a toll on the body, and it will be harder for students to get back on the school routine.
Sleep is essential to all human beings and the COVID-19 outbreak has drastically changed sleep overall.
“Sleep contributes to a student’s overall health and well-being,” the website for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. “Students should get the proper amount of sleep at night to help stay focused, improve concentration and improve academic performance.”
COVID-19 changed some students’ overall routine and lifestyle.
“My sleep patterns have changed drastically since there is no school,” junior Kimberlyn Finley said. “I’ve been staying up extremely late like around two or four. Then I wake up around 7 every day, and I take naps everyday.”
Students are lacking sleep due to this spreading virus that has affected the country.
“I realized that now that there’s no school, I do my work late at night and have fun during the day,” senior Reed Hildenbrandt said. “Basically I go to sleep super late.”
Since there is no school, students have found something to occupy their day to stay busy.
“I wake up at 5:15 every morning,” senior Marco De la Rosa Lopez said. “I work Monday through Saturday, but I like waking up at 6:30 on Saturdays and Sundays so I can have a little more rest since I go to sleep at 11:15.”
For some, work has ceased and they find themselves doing something else to entertain them.
“I don’t have a job right now because we are only doing to gos, but because I’ve been doing nothing, I’ve been staying up until 3 a.m. or 5 a.m.,” senior Naidiya Knight said. “Usually on a busy schedule with work and school, my sleep patterns would be normal and I’d go to bed by 10 p.m. I do wake up later now, usually noon.”
Students hope for school to start back to find some control in their life for their sleep patterns.
“Since we are not in school, it has thrown off my sleep schedule,” sophomore Cole Arnold said. “I was having to work, but my job was closed so now I go to sleep late and wake up at like 11:30 a.m. I can’t wait for school to be back so I can have some structure.”
The virus has affected everyone because of the scared and sickly atmosphere it has given out.
“I don’t have a job so I have nothing in my life to be the control center of my daily routine that I use to have,” junior Brianna Manuel said. “I go to bed later, wake up later and I’m less productive and less motivated because of the environment I’m in.”
Not enough sleep will change the way a person acts. Students cannot let the lack of sleep play a part in this worldwide epidemic.
“Children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk for many health problems,” the CDC said. “They are also more likely to have attention and behavior problems, which can contribute to poor academic performance in school.”
