Sleep Deprivation and Its Effect on Student's Grades

Rest has always and will always be a main essential for students around the world. Sleep affects everything a person does; it affects the behavior, strength, intelligence, and the overall health of a human being. Therefore, schools should delay their start time in order to provide students with much-needed sleep.
Students should consider the dramatic effect sleep has on them. Found in Source A, “At least 8 hours of rest is needed in order to help with physical activities and cognitive performance.” To help with sleep deprivation, going to bed around the same time every night will help torpid performances and make it easier to fall asleep.

Staying up late on the weekends can really make it hard trying to go to sleep on Sunday nights or during the weeknights. Memory loss and hallucinations are some ways students can be affected by the lack of rest. For example, if a student studies until 2 o’clock but has to wake up at 6, then most of the material will be forgotten, all because of the lack of sleep. As said in Source A, “Not enough rest can also decrease reaction times and lead to an increased risk of car accidents.” Students should go to bed earlier so driving to school the next day won’t be as dangerous. For this reason, schools should delay their start time in order to provide students with much-needed sleep.

As a result of this, Cornell University did a test to see if sleep really did affect students grades. According to Maas, a psychology professor, “Students had an average of 7 hours 24 minutes a night and their grades really showed from it.” They found that as students started realizing how much they were actually sleeping, they started to sleep longer and their grades improved. Cornell University has proved that if someone wants to improve their overall performance in anything, then get more rest. Without sleep, a person’s mood, health, and academic scores wouldn’t be as great. In addition, Maas also stated in the article, “Students don’t believe in going to sleep early unless it’ll cause a significant change in grades” and that’s why they aren’t listening. Thus, students should listen and go to sleep early for better living.

For any reason, do not lean towards drugs to fall asleep. These drugs decrease heart rate and breathing. If a doctor prescribes any drug to fall asleep, try not to use it every night in order to help with addiction. Drugs for sleeping should be the very last option because it is not healthy, especially for someone that has “Parkinson’s, heart disease, are pregnant, or are breastfeeding” (Mark Rosenberg). Also said by Mark Rosenberg, “[I]f these drugs are taken in a combination with alcohol it can result in serious consequences such as; a coma or a possibility of death.” Trying to fall asleep without drugs is a healthy option and will help later on in life. As expressed, drugs should be the very last option for sleeping.

Overall, sleep-deprived students should get more sleep to help with stagnant performances. Sleep does matter for students and it displays in almost everything a person does including athletics, academics, and a person’s precision. Lastly, schools should delay their start time due to students performances in the classroom.