The common stereotype for high school and college students is to stay up late, studying or doing homework. Students will spend countless hours hitting the books instead of catching up on sleep, or getting the required amount of sleep. What students fail to realize, is that, in most cases, sleep can be a detrimental part to getting good grades, just as studying is. Studies show that getting the required amount of sleep can positively impact grades just as extended amounts of study time. In fact, in some cases, studying at all hours of the morning is harmful to not only grade performance, but also mental and physical health. This topic is geared mainly towards high school and college students, but also to the parents of these students. The students are effected mostly by this issue, but parents can also be effected, as well as put a stop to this issue that is sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation has become a serious issue not just in modern society, but dating back to decades before this time. Replacing sleep for extended study time hours is harmful in the ways that it reduces grade performance, harms the body’s mental and physical health, and overall makes the brain fail to focus during stressful situations. This replacement of sleep is vital to the continuing downfall of grades and academic performance. Students need to realize that sleep is very important, but is so important that without it, the body cannot function properly, and the very thing that the student is trying to do, that is make good grades, becomes counterproductive when the student stays up to the early hours of the morning, and fails to get this required amount of sleep.

The brain is a very delicate yet complex organ in our body. The brain can control the thoughts and actions of human beings and remains a mystery on how it works to scientists around the world. The brain as well as the body require a period of rest, or sleep. For years, college and high school students will spend countless hours studying throughout the day, in order to prepare for tests and evaluations. One might ask what the issue is with extended amounts of study time. The issue lies within the students failing to get the required amounts of sleep that the body needs on a daily basis. Adam David McCullough gave a first hand experience on this topic. He was a student at Penn State University when he referred to his time of sleep deprivation. In high school he achieved the required eight hours of sleep, but in college, he found himself “staying awake as late as 3 or 4 in the morning” while at college (McCullough). McCullough referenced a study, in his article, from the University of St. Paul that studied tens of thousands of students and what their study habits as well as sleep habits were. What they found was the eye-opening statistics that amounts of sleep determined more than just grades, but determined whether or not a student will drop a class and gave a negative impact on the student undergoing “binge drinking and marijuana use” (McCullough). The brain resorts to negatively impacting the body when it is stressed beyond its limit. According to a study done by the Huffington Post, sleep deprivation can also “drive up anxiety” and “make you work slower” (The Huffington Post). Huffington Post used facts from health.com, stating that lack of sleep causes “negative effects on health” and that the required amount of sleep for children is less than that of adults, children in school requiring 10 to 11 hours of sleep, while adults only require 7 to 9 (The Huffington Post). Students tend to sleep less than this required amount of sleep, replacing this time to study. Without the required amount of sleep, the human body cannot function as well, causing health problems in students, as well as causing the students to not be able to focus in class or on the test or current task.

A 2001 study showed that 15% of college students are unhappy or “unsatisfied with their quality of sleep” (Lowry, Dean, and Manders). Although this percentage is low, it is still a common stereotype for college students to not get the 7 to 9 hours that the body requires. The study found that some of the issues are due to “disturbances in sleep” and other factors such as late-night parties and social obligations, as well as all-nighters and late-night studying (Lowry, Dean, and Manders). Sleep deprivation is a main source of a drop in GPA or grade performance. The lack of sleep by the student is a main cause for sleep deprivation, which in turn, creates the issues that happen in the classroom. This is mainly an issue for early morning classes, as the student might find it difficult to interrupt the nights sleep. Then, the afternoon becomes difficult, as the student “crashes” due to lack of sleep. The body has a difficult time getting through the day, even if the student takes to drinking coffee or other energy supplements. The “crashing” that this student experiences is due to the lack of sleep, and the human body’s impulse to shut down in order to get rest. The body could shut down during inconvenient times during the day, such as during  a class or test. This then creates issues for the student, as they are faced with focusing more on trying to stay awake during the day, rather than focusing on classwork or classroom activities.

School and education get more difficult as the years go on. The amount of studying, the amount of stress, and the time spent on schoolwork, in general, escalate to almost a maximum. Life also catches up to the students, as school is not 100 percent of the daily life. With all of the non-school activities as well as the class time during the day, the amount of time during the day to study diminishes greatly. Therefore, students tend to stay up in the later hours of the day studying, and replacing the time needed for sleep to study and do homework. This is the very thing that is a big part in students, especially those who are known for doing well in school, who fall asleep in class or lack focus during tests.

This idea has not yielded the same results for everyone however. Some students find that the extra hours of study time increases their test performance. Although when not getting the required amount of sleep for the human body, the student is also getting an increased time with studying and acquiring more knowledge. For some students, this extended amount of study time works best for them, to which they are then able to gain additional information that they need for the test or assignment. This example would lead to higher test grades because of the knowledge of the material. However, no matter how much material or knowledge is gained, there is still the fact that the brain and body cannot function or operate as well when faced with lack of sleep or rest for the body. If the mind cannot focus on the questions or even the material when they are studying, then the studying that was done late at night becomes irrelevant, and the students’ grades begin to fall as a result from lack of sleep and focus.

Another refutable example is if the student studies better at night than in the day time. According to an article on dawn.com, studying at night is a better choice because it is “peaceful and very quiet” during these hours (Qureshi). The choice of study place is scarce of distractions keeping the student from studying. It is also proven scientifically that “the brain is more active at night” making study time more effective (Qureshi). With this information, study time for students would be best at night. However, this does not work for everyone. The brain may be more active at night, but the student would need to counteract the lack of sleep by sleeping more in the daytime or afternoon. This could work for some students, but for most, the afternoon is filled with other plans, and possibly even more studying. Also, the night time is more peaceful and quiet, because most people are asleep. There is a sense of nothingness for the student can focus, but if the student loses track of time and stays up to extreme hours, the body cannot get its required amount of rest. Psychologist from the University of Sussex conducted an experiment on studying and memory for different times of the day, and said that the morning is the best time to “integrate new knowledge into what you know” and that the afternoon times are best for “synthesizing and applying” the knowledge that was learned earlier (Qureshi). Through this, the student can get more study time at the later hours of the day, but if the student stays up too late, it can be proven to effect memory and grade performance. The earlier hours of the day, after a good nights sleep, prove to be best for knowledge consumption.

Scientific research shows that there are harsh and sometimes deadly effects to the body after depriving the body of sleep. Some effects include but are not limited to, ADHD like symptoms, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and damage to the brain (Harvard Medical School). Be that as it may, it takes a long term of continuous sleep deprivation. These are serious effects that can have lifelong damage on a human. Sleep is a very valuable time for the human body and it requires it day in and day out. To deprive the body of sleep gives these harsh results, and they should not be taken lightly. Because of this, getting more sleep can prove to be better for not only grades, but to benefit the health of the human body.

Along with the specific health problems that occur over time, comes the constant issue of tiredness. Tiredness can lead to the health problems, but also run at a greater risk of getting in some sort of accident, or becoming less aware to surroundings. This can lead to issues in every day life, or even in the classroom, as a more specific event. Tiredness will cause the brain and body to not be aware, and performance in the classroom will severely suffer if the person suffering from sleep deprivation cannot focus.

With all of the health mishaps that can happen with sleep deprivation, there are numerous health benefits that can come from getting enough sleep. A health website found numerous reasons why sleep is beneficial. Some of the ideas listed were that life expectancy could be linked, as well as mind creativity, sport performance, memory improvement, attention span improvement, lower stress, and also, improve grades (Sparacino). The website article found these ideas through numerous searches done by universities and other research institutions. These few things listed were a few of the many health benefits that can come about because of sleeping. All of these things are linked through one thing: the brain. Because the proper amount of sleep is being achieved, the body functions, thus improving quality of life.

As sleep effects more than just grades, a big part of why students struggle in school is because of sleep deprivation. When students tend to stay up more often and later, problems tend to occur with bodily functions, and grades can suffer. Staying up late can gain more information for the student, but the lack of sleep is what hurts the grade performance. Students who stay up later on a nightly basis, such as myself, have made their bodies comfortable with staying up late. But over time, as I have learned, if there is no recuperation time to gain back all of that missed sleep, then the body starts to lose focus more and more, which in turn leads to more issues down the road. Sleep is also on the back burner of many students, as so many put studies ahead of sleeping. This could seem as the best option for good grades, but if there is very little sleep happening, it is extremely difficult for the mind to learn new information, as well as retain the information, and put that information into practice.

The human mind is a precious organ, yet so complex. It can remember a lot of things and can hold a lot of information. However, the brain cannot function as well if it is not properly rested, along with the rest of the human body. Extra study time is always helpful to maintain good grades. However, if the brain and the body aren't properly rested, it is difficult for students to focus on given tasks, ultimately resulting in lowering of academic performance. Not only lowering academic proficiency, but also lowering the proficiency of which students need to maintain to be healthy.

In conclusion, replacing sleep for extended hours of study time into the early hours past midnight, can be detrimental and harmful to a student. This can cause serious repercussions in not only academic performance, but also the overall health of the student in question. Students need to keep in mind that yes, grades are important, but sleep is also vital in health and also academic performance. Although this idea does not always work for every student to increase grade performance, it plays a major role in the operation of the student and plays a certain role, small or large, in how the student performs in the classroom. Therefore, in order for a student to possibly increase academic performance, and also maintain physical and mental health, the student needs to not only study, but also get the required amount of sleep that the body needs to function properly.
