Article analysis and review

¶ … High Schools Wake Up by Paul D. Houston

In his 2002 article, Dr. Houston examines the relationship between the lack of sleep that is epidemic among U.S. high school students and poor academic performance.

According to Houston, the vast majority of American high school students get up at 6:30

AM and lack of sleep affects their ability to concentrate in school and to absorb information very negatively. Houston correctly points out that very few high school students get the minimum amount of sleep necessary for them because they typically stay up as late as midnight on school nights, either doing homework, preparing for tests, or just socializing with their friends by telephone, text messaging, or via computer instant messaging or e-mail.

Houston explains that adolescence is a period of physiological growth and development in which adequate sleep is essential and that other than infancy, it is the period of life where the individual requires the most sleep. According to the author, medical authorities and cognitive psychologists suggest that teenagers specifically need as much as nine or ten solid hours of quality sleep every night, whereas adults typically need less sleep as they age; elderly adults in particular often find that their sleep needs decrease as they age, often needing only six hours of sleep or less per night. Houston points out that the typical American teenager gets only as much sleep as needed by the elderly and very few get the amount of sleep that they need.

According to Houston, the lack of adequate sleep contributes to other problems, including the failure of most American high school students to consume healthy breakfasts because they simply cannot afford the time for breakfast at home before school. Consequently, they tend to load up on junk food from dispensers at school; likewise, they often rely on excessive amounts of caffeine in coffee and various colas that contain even more caffeine than coffee just to stay awake during the school day. This only furthers the problems associated with insufficient sleep because of the body's natural physiological response to excessive sugar intake and leads to a constant repetitive cycle of sugar highs and corresponding crashes shortly afterwards.

Furthermore, the excessive caffeine consumption throughout the school day only makes it that much harder for students to wind down and go to sleep as early as they would need to receive adequate sleep. Finally, in that regard, the regular substitution of healthy breakfasts for non-nutritious fast food and vending machine substitutes contributes substantially to the epidemic of overweight and obese American teenagers.

According to Houston, delaying the start time of American high schools would help resolve most of these problems.

Houston's observations are very consistent with what one observes in high school.

Very often, students skip class to take naps and others simply sleep in their classes.