Does the “s” in “school” stand for sleep?
November 25, 2013
Waking up every early morning to a blaring alarm, sometimes falling back to sleep seems to be the best option. Nonetheless, time trickles by and when the realization that school starts in ten minutes hit, ‘why why why’ seems to be the appropriate reaction.
When sitting in morning classes, it can feel as if a layer of cellophane has been placed in front of the teacher and nothing seems to be clear. This is a common occurrence for many students.
High school students seem to lag in the morning, like a slow internet connection. They’re there physically — but not entirely mentally. “Yeah,” said Chris Passaro GRHS senior, “I’m not a morning person, so I tend to be out of it in my early classes.”
The rotating block schedule, currently under deliberation by the school board, may help to alleviate the weight of this ‘sleepy time’ from students’ early morning classes, but the issue remains that some academic subject may be lost in this early morning fog.
That solution may be awareness — to be aware of how the brain goes through cycles and to understand what each stage does can be all the difference. Learning the sleep cycles is time consuming, so, instead various programs can determine the exact bedtime one needs. All one needs to do is enter desired wake up time and it does the rest: http://sleepyti.me/.
Lauren Genovese, GRHS junior, has struggled with the early morning funk. Like the rest of us, she’s awake and getting ready for school hours before the first bell rings. “Yes, I have fallen asleep, usually around period 2,” she said. “And I do think it’s from lack of sleep. People just don’t fall asleep that easily unless they don’t sleep well.”
