Stressed: The Negative Effects of a High school Workload

October 27, 2017

With the constant juggling of hours of homework in each class, multiple tests to prepare for, and an abundance of after school activities, students are constantly on the move in one way or another.

But the question then becomes, why would a student choose to have such a cramped schedule in and outside of school?

Many students in our high school are signed up for more than one AP or Honors class, and some choose to take nothing but.

According to The College Foundation of West Virginia, about 60 percent of U.S. high schools and 15,000 high schools worldwide offer Advanced Placement classes. There are more than 35 different AP courses in 22 subject areas -- everything from chemistry and calculus to Japanese language and culture.

And according to Franklin Regional’s own 2017-2018 scheduling sheet, there are a variety of different AP and Honors classes to choose from varying between grade level.

“For my senior year I plan to take four different AP classes and one and a half credits of honors classes,” said junior Sarah Apte. “Including AP Government and Politics, AP Seminar, AP Calculus, and AP Biology.”

And while these high level classes are a way to challenge yourself and up your GPA while gaining college credit, it’s often forgotten that there is a life outside of school.

This pressure to be in a multitude of clubs and high level classes along with a heap of other outside activities once the school day ends can cause many effects that are detrimental to one’s health and overall stress level.

According to National Childrens “Sleep in Adolescents” article, adolescents and teenagers are notorious for not getting enough sleep.

The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours, however, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours for a full night’s of rest.

“I usually get six hours of sleep a night,” said junior Libby Krieger. “But it depends on how much homework I get for the day.”

Teenagers do not get enough sleep for a number of reasons, the biggest being early high school start times and social and school obligations.

Also, according to the website, in most school districts, high school is accompanied by an earlier school start time, some starting as early as 7:00 AM, meaning that some teenagers have to get up as early as 5:00 AM to get ready for and travel to school.

As most social and school activities take place in the evening and often lead into late at night, sleeping time for most teenagers is severely cut down.

This results in sleep deprivation and added stress that can impact one’s daily function.

According to Healthline, sleep deprivation can cause damage to your body in the short term.

Over time, it can lead to chronic health problems and negatively impact your quality of life.

And if sleep deprivation continues long enough, it can damage your body’s immune system, putting you at risk of developing chronic illness.

When you’re deprived of sleep, your brain can’t function properly, affecting your cognitive abilities and emotional state.

The more obvious signs of sleep deprivation are excessive sleepiness, yawning, and irritability.

Chronic sleep deprivation can interfere with balance, coordination, and decision-making abilities.

A person’s mood, cognitive ability, academic performance, and driving ability can also be affected as well.

But despite all of this, many students on the honors course will still overload their schedule for the upcoming school years.

According to Healthline, the best way to keep on top of things in order to get the full amount of sleep needed is to not procrastinate and divide out homework into shifts so you’re not spending hours at a time on one subject.

Taking small breaks in between different assignments is also a good way to not overload your brain as it allows your mind to focus on one subject at a time.

Another way to open up time after school is to make full use of QRT.

While most usually use their hour and a half for Quality Resting Time, doing homework for your morning classes while at school can save you a lot of extra time after school for resting and relaxation.

For those who have trouble sleeping, going to bed at a scheduled time each night and cutting down on the caffeine can help with breaking bad sleeping habits- like going to bed at midnight on Tuesday and at one a.m. on Wednesday. Listening to softer music before going to bed or taking a shower at night can also help with relaxing your body so that sleep comes easier.

So while scheduling for this year and the years to come, try to remember that while taking a full honors course can look good on a transcript for college, actually doing well in those classes each day and not looking and functioning like a zombie each morning is also important as well.

So please.

Get some sleep.