While I find myself starting this article at 10:30 the night before it’s due, I merely confirmed my stance that sleep deprivation due to overcrowded schedules is becoming a serious issue for students.

These late nights have become frequent due to the fact that since my freshman year, I’ve been encouraged to join sports, clubs and other outside activities, and I took that advice. I’m now a part of a fall sport and four other outside activities as well as working part time and being enrolled in AP courses. These are the sole reasons why I’m struggling to find the time of day to do homework. If I think I have it bad, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for the students who have dance until 9 every night or the robotics team members that are at school until 8 or 9 during competition season.

My question for all of you is why? Why do teenagers these days feel the need to stretch themselves so thin that they sacrifice their own sleep (and sanity) just to be involved in more? That’s not a rhetorical question; I genuinely don’t know why we do this to ourselves. For some, it may be just another point to put on their college applications; for others, theatre or football may be their calling while Chemistry is just another class they’re required to take.

Regardless of why we’re pushing ourselves to this extent, the fact is that teens are heavily lacking on sleep. According to the Washington Post, only 8 percent of teenagers are getting the suggested nine hours of sleep recommended. While nine hours may seem high, studies show that the majority of high school students are only getting 6-7 hours of sleep.

The most ironic element is that many students get heavily involved in order to apply for scholarships later on in life, yet, being involved is also the reason they are not able to complete their homework, thus lowering their grades. Teenagers have too much pressure on them to be well-rounded and involved and are paying the price for it. Not even grades are worth the price of having poor health. Students must learn to value themselves over their grades because in the long run, that’s what matters.