The Lost Hour

The lost hour for teenagers means a lot. It means they will be more tired during the week while at school for they will be running on less sleep but will still be going to the same busy workload at school. It is also unhealthy for teenagers for they are still young and are creating habits that can possibly stay with them their entire life. What surprised me in this chapter is that on average, people are losing more and more sleep as the years go on. To me, I feel that people would be doing the opposite and be gaining more sleep since they know that it is unhealthy to be losing sleep. But, I guess that people have more and more work to do these days so they are losing sleep. I agree with the fact that teenagers do seem to be losing sleep. We stay up at odd hours of the night using technology (television, computers, phones, etc.) to keep us occupied when we need to get some sleep since we have school the next morning. I believe that I have lost sleep due to work and then school work and sports and it has taken a toll on my body. I feel sore often from being out late and doing activities with friends and working but then not getting enough sleep and having to wake up the next morning for work or for school has really hurt me. When I haven't had enough sleep, it is a fight with my body to stay awake during the day. So overall, I would say that I have been affected due to my lack of sleep and it has impacted my performance in school.

Sleep zzzzzz

Teens and students struggle for reasons that I think pertain mostly to school. School can be very stressing to a student especially during the later years of high school in junior and senior year. The rest of high school is also very stressing but not as stressful as the final two years. Junior year involves a lot of college tests and courses that can be taken and they are very important for the future. Senior year involves a lot of contacting colleges and filling out applications and it all takes up a lot of time and a huge toll on your body and brain. All the time put into the work involved at school has students lose time to sleep and relax for they are always busy. So teenagers have a lot of work on their plate to prepare for college and the future. There are many big decisions to be made so there is a lot of "wear and tear" on the body that requires more sleep but the body won't get it since it is awake and working hard.

For myself, I love to go play around on the internet and play with technology. I am normally texting right up until the point I feel that I am going to pass out. So for me, technology keeps me up at odd hours of the night. Also, I would say that for the beginning of this year, I had a lot of school work to do and then a fair amount of college applications to fill out. As a whole, I would say I lose sleep to technology. For my friends and peers, they lose sleep off of video games. They play until odd hours of the night during the week when they need to wake up for school the next morning. I am not allowed to play video games during the week for it will interfere with my school work says my mom which is totally true. So my friends don't sleep due to video games. My brother would definitely lose sleep to watching television all night. He loves watching the late shows and he could stay up all night so I would say that is what makes him lose sleep.

Adults lose sleep due to work. They spend all day at work and running around doing errands for themselves and their families so it takes a toll on the body and brain that would require more sleep. But, this sleep is never acquired since adults seem to always have something to do and they are always busy. So for adults, keeping up with necessities to themselves and their families and their work/job is what keeps adults from getting sleep. My parents work a lot during the day. My parents are also divorces so for my dad, he spends a lot of time behind a desk working and in the car traveling to go to work in New York, going home to Connecticut, and visiting me and my brother here in New Jersey. My mom spends a lot of time working and then rushing around driving me and my brother. I have my license and am supposed to be getting a car but we are waiting until the winter passes so that it is safer for me to drive and own my own car. So my mom runs errands and then cooks dinner and works and then helps me contact college coaches and then eventually watches her shows of the day. Then sleep comes in but it is not nearly enough time to sleep when there is so much more going on.