All-Nighters? Think Again…

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Twenty four hours. That’s how much time we have in one day to do everything that needs to get done. And sure, that seems like a lot at first, but once you’ve realized how many things you actually need to do, twenty four hours a day just seems insufficient. That being said, a lot of people, myself,  included, focus on knocking tasks off their list and begin to discard items deemed “unimportant” like sleep.

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Multiple scientists have stated many times that the minimum amount of sleep needed in order to function correctly is somewhere between seven to nine hours. Now, you may be saying, Well, I have other things to do! Homework to catch up on, and people to talk to; I don’t have seven hours to spare!” But you see, that’s the issue right there. The moment you tell yourself you don’t have the time for it, you start thinking you don’t need it, and that is not true… at all. Sleep is basically what your body uses to recharge, kind of like how you plug in your phone so that it doesn’t die. Much like a phone–or any other piece of technology really–the body begins to shut down or become sluggish when it’s battery starts to shut down. There’s many things that can happen if you don’t get the right amount of sleep. 

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It’s very important to sleep, not just because of the effects that it has on your body and mental health now, but because of what it can do to you in the long term. For example, sleep deprivation has been linked to hypertension, heart attacks, and strokes, as well as obesity, diabetes, melancholy, and anxiety. It has also been linked to diminished brain function, memory loss, a weakened immune system, lower fertility rates, and psychiatric illnesses, it can even cause skin problems! On top of this, the risk of being involved in a car accident also increases. You see, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving causes almost 100,000 traffic collisions each year, resulting in more than 1,500 deaths and 70,000 injuries. Sleep is something that, simply put, you absolutely need. Which is why keeping a sleep schedule is so important!

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One of the best ways for this to happen is to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. This might sound hard to do, especially if you’re the kind of person that usually has a very hectic and uneven schedule with classes. But, the easiest solution to this problem is simply to allow yourself to shorten the list of things you have to do in one day. It’s okay to feel stressed or anxious with the amount of things you need to get done, but what isn’t okay is to give up your health because it seems “unimportant”. 

Your health, and sleep, are two things that aren’t worth the bargain.

Teen blogger, Claudia Lopez

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