Counting Sheep or Counting A’s at Lawrenceville

          Sleep is one of the most important bodily functions—a known fact from childhood, perpetually ingrained into our heads by parents, guardians, and teachers hoping to influence our well-being. Getting a good night’s rest was not a difficult task when we were toddlers or pre-teenagers. Nowadays, the constant stress and heavy workload that teenagers must grapple with hinder our ability to get the recommended amount of sleep. Lawrenceville understands this struggle and tries to implement methods such as “lights out” ranging from 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM to ensure we get sufficient sleep. Despite Lawrenceville’s efforts in implementing a system to promote the student’s well-being, the challenge of balancing work and rest still exists.

          First of all, what happens to our bodies when we are sleep deprived, or in other words, we get less than the suggested six hours of sleep?  Since all bodily systems depend on sleep to function properly, chronic sleep deprivation carries serious hazards to both physical and mental health. For instance, studies have found strong correlations between deficient sleep and cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke;a study from the University of Michigan has found a 24 percent increase in heart attacks the Monday after daylight savings time starts and people lose one hour of sleep. Moreover, sleep deficiency leads to additional hormonal abnormalities and worsens depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental health disorders. 

          Difficulties in balancing work and getting everything done on time naturally come when living the busy life of a Lawrenceville student. “How are you supposed to sleep before 11:15 PM when each teacher expects you to have all of their homework done for the next class,” Aileen Ryu ’25 asked.  “Getting good sleep is not possible here,” Cira Sar ’25 asserts.” This school has the gall to promote the students getting at least eight hours of sleep, but we can’t fit all of our work in such little time–it’s hypocritical. How are we going to fit all our sports, extracurricular activities, and homework into only a few hours? Study hall alone is two hours, how is that enough to get my work for four classes done? Look at your own schedule—how does it work?” 

          Moreover, Alex Raymond ’25 spoke about the effect of sleep deprivation on her own quality of life: “I’m unable to be fully attentive in my classes, which makes me fall behind on work and prevents me from fully understanding the material. The lack of sleep also affects how I interact with friends, because sometimes I can get really moody because of it. In general, it just throws my schedule off and leads everything to repeat as a perpetual cycle again”.

          In the face of the large amounts of evidence that sleep deprivation adversely affects both physical and mental health, the paradox of schools like Lawrenceville promoting adequate rest but also structuring a system that naturally prevents sleep continues. As the testimonies of Lawrenceville students illustrate, the quest for academic success is naturally linked to sacrificing sleep. The controversy, therefore, is not over the theoretical value of sleep, but in students’ ongoing neglect of its necessity in the midst of their relentless ambition and packed schedules.