The alarm clock rings; even the sun is still asleep. We turn over and groan in agony as our fingers fumble for the snooze button. Almost every BCA student knows that feeling: the need for just a few more minutes of sleep.

Spring is  upon us, and with snow days and school breaks now out of the question, BCA students long more than ever for those extra hours of sleep they miss out on during the school week.

In a poll asking BCA students the average number of hours they sleep per school night, answers ranged from to two  to eight. Some students even remarked that they got “negative sleep!”

One senior in regards to how many hours of sleep he gets said, “Eight, now that I’m a senior. It was more like five hours my freshman, sophomore, and junior years.” In response, to what he believes to be the optimal number of hours he added,  “Teens should get 9 hours of sleep, apparently.”

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep each night to function best.”

A freshman from ABF seemed to coincide in the fact that freshmen do not get much sleep, and stated, “On average, I receive about four hours of sleep a night.  I would love to be getting around eight hours.”

Another student  who also said to be getting four hours of sleep on average had a different idea as to how many hours teens should be sleeping and said,  “I think the optimal number of hours is six hours.”

While answers often echoed “four to five hours a night” to “six or seven, normally,” it seemed that no student was answering in the range of nine to ten hours. Yet, according to the National Sleep Foundation, “Teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep each night to function best.” Students’ responses reveal that the majority of them  do not fall in this optimal range of sleep. While a few students answered eight hours of sleep per night, no students said that they got 9 or more hours of sleep.

So, is sleep deprivation a huge issue at BCA?

The student poll went further by asking students if they felt sleep deprivation was an issue at BCA and if so, whether it was caused by homework and schoolwork, long school days, or not enough vacations and breaks. The majority of students, 65%, answered homework, studying, and tests.

As stated by one AVPA student, “The school day is long, but mostly it’s getting home late and having to do so much homework and stress about studying.”

“Sleep deprivation among teens is linked to depression, susceptibility to illness and injury, irritability, car and other accidents, stunted growth and even obesity.”

However, not all students blamed only the burden of schoolwork for the cause of sleep deprivation. Nastasia Klevak, an AAST freshman, said that  sleep deprivation is indeed a major issue, but it is because, “a lot of people procrastinate the day before things are due and then… spend the majority of their night finishing it.”

Deena Shefter, also a freshman in AAST, had a similar response. “I think it’s an issue because people don’t realize how long their homework is actually going to take them before they do it, so they leave a certain amount of time, but then it takes longer and so they end up going to sleep later.” She added that another problem is that students “don’t start their homework right after they get home from school.”

Aside from homework, 17% of students answered with long school days, 9% answered with “other reason” referring to another cause of the lack of sleep, 4% answered that it was due lack of vacation days, and 5% answered that sleep is not an issue.

“Being in school for so long is overall extremely exhausting, so not even going to sleep earlier helps.”

Yet, when asked to explain their answer, a trend in responses was that it sleep deprivation was caused by a combination of a long school day and large workload.

“I don’t have enough time to finish my homework because of the long day,” said Katie Dickey, a AVPA/T freshman. “I don’t get home until 5 P.M. and if I’m going to sleep eight hours every night, I need to get to bed by 10 P.M… between dinner with my family, recreation time so I don’t dissolve into tears, and homework, I sleep a lot less than I should…which just doesn’t work.”

Rebecca Zaritsky, a AMST junior, said, “It’s a combination of all of them, but I think the main cause is too many extracurriculars and doing other things outside of school, not all of which are productive.”

One other freshman also said, “I live so far and [the] buses are so bad that I spend about three hours getting to and from school leaving no time for anything else.”

However, those that did agree the length of the school day is its own issue often quoted transportation in their explanations.

For example, an AEDT senior said, “By the time school ends, the traffic everywhere is ridiculous and I get home much later than students at district high schools. From the weird hours of the school day, I am either starving two to three hours before my lunch period, or I am famished by the time I get home, which is not a healthy way to live. Being in school for so long is overall extremely exhausting, so not even going to sleep earlier helps.”

While long school days may not be considered the main cause in affecting sleeping patterns at BCA, in other parts of the country, certain groups have petitioned for school to begin at a later time so students receive more hours of sleep.

An example is Start School Later, a “nonprofit organization comprised of health professionals, sleep scientists, educators, parents, students, and other concerned citizens working to ensure that all public schools can set hours compatible with health, safety, equity, and learning.” Their website provides numerous resources and information on the benefit of starting school at a later time, the consequences of sleep deprivation, and even recent legislation and news regarding schools changing their start times.

“I’m just saying there are both sides of the story. I just feel like I would take advantage of sleep and go to sleep later and later.”

According to startschoollater.net, “Sleep deprivation among teens is linked to depression, susceptibility to illness and injury, irritability, car and other accidents, stunted growth and even obesity.” It can furthermore lower necessary skills important in driving and negatively impacts a student’s “ability to think and learn.”

The organization also provides success stories of states in which petitions have been successful in starting school later. The states range from Arkansas to Colorado, even including New Jersey.

Winni Yang, a junior, agreed that starting school later may not be such a bad idea.“I don’t think starting school at 10 o’ clock is a hindrance to our studies, because if we were to have delayed openings we would only take ten minutes from each class and those ten minutes would be more productively used for sleeping.” However, she still admitted this could result poorly, saying “students would take advantage of that time and start homework later.”

She added, “I’m just saying there are both sides of the story. I just feel like I would take advantage of sleep and go to sleep later and later.”

Overall, sleep deprivation seems to be a prevalent issue at BCA. However, not everyone looks at the problem from a negative perspective. As one AAST senior said, “It’s clearly an issue, but it’s one of the many things that sets our kids apart. I wouldn’t change it.”