SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Silver Creek High School students should value the importance of sleep for better physical and mental health development.

We teenagers at our age have not fully grown yet. Therefore, it is important to prioritize our sleeping schedules because that’s how our bodies rebuild and repair themselves. Teenagers risk losing physical and mental growth if they do not get enough sleep (8-10 hours per night), which can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and other issues. 

Especially when teenagers spend a significant amount of their day at school without a proper amount of sleep, studies have shown that we have higher chances of low academic performance. This consists of trouble focusing, lack of concentration, etc. This only proves that, as teenagers, we should value our sleep schedules and have the motive to make a difference in it. Anushe Khan says, “Sleep allows us to rest our bodies and minds, which then helps promote our mental health.”

Our use of electronics plays a huge role in our sleeping patterns. Teenagers today are often on devices daily, leading to insomnia. Scientists believe that too much blue light from our screens causes our eyes to strain. Blue lights mess with the melatonin in our brain, which causes us to have trouble sleeping and causes us to stay awake longer at night.

To prevent our vision from getting damaged, scientists believe adapting to a limited screen time will help most with our sleeping patterns. “I’ve been trying to get into the habit of sleeping early. I found that limiting phone usage at night helps to sleep easier,” says Jade Hernandez. But this is not the only thing that would help our eyes; blue light glasses make a significance for us. It gives us extra protection and helps to limit how much reaches our eyes. “I often spend hours on my phone and sometimes experience some sort of dizziness because of it. Not too long ago, I decided to buy a pair of blue light glasses to see if it would help me, and it did!” says Monica Tran. These blue light lenses also regulate our sleep wake cycle and support our mental health. It gives us healthier sleep patterns and well being.