A Summary of "High school students test best with 7 hours of sleep at night" by Brigham Young University.
According to Brigham Young University(BYU), U.S. federal guidelines suggested that high school students should get at least 9 hours of sleep, but Brigham University created a study to investigate if that were true or not. Their study found that academically 16- to 18-year-olds did better if they received two hours less of sleep than recommended. "The data simply says that seven hours is optimal at that age," says Eric Eide. Sadly, the studies done by the U.S. federal government, told students to sleep until they felt "satisfied", and to be truthful the perfect amount of sleep decreases with age. 10-year-olds should have 9 to 9.5 hours of sleep, while 16-year-olds should have 7 hours. "... students in early morning seminary classes in high school are going to realize that 9 hours of sleep isn't what the top students do," Showalter said. (Brigham Young University, 2012.)
In my opinion, I somewhat agree with the fact that older students should get less sleep, because it can be a good outcome or a bad one. When I prepare for tests, I stay up later, therefore allowing me less sleep, but I do well on my tests. Although I do well on my tests, I make poor decisions through out the day whether it be the food I eat, or my attitude. To be honest, I feel better when I get at least 9 hours of sleep because I wake up refreshed and more relaxed. But maybe that is the cause of why we do worse when we get nine hours of sleep. Are we too relaxed? Are we too calm? I think that I should try getting seven hours of sleep to see what my results would be. What do you think... Do we do better as high school students with seven hours of sleep or nine?
High school students test best with 7 hours of sleep at night. (n.d.). Retrieved from Science Daily website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120210110510.htm
Wow. I am surprised by these findings. Seven hours just does not feel like enough for me, and never has. I also wonder about the long terms effects. Our bodies don't sleep with the objective of doing well on tests. There are all kinds of things our bodies do when we sleep (many of which we are only starting to understand). What effect would seven hours have on those?
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