<p>Senior here…I procrastinate so much. 5 APs and after school job. Sometimes I take naps after dinner, and then I wake up at 10 pm to do my HW, it’s pretty bad. Usually get 4.5-5 hours a night, but added to the nap time, it would be 7 hours! I crash and usually sleep 10+ hours during the weekends haha.</p>
<p>Coffee saves me ~O) </p>
<p>My son became addicted to napping and totally threw off his sleep schedule. He was a varsity swimmer and would nap after practice. Had no social life and went a few days without sleeping to try to get back on track. He sorted it out over Christmas but he is still always tired. </p>
<p>Honestly, for me and I’m sure many others, it’s all about efficiency. I typically go to bed around 12, and often times 1:30-2am during test nights, although I do take many short naps. For me, I procrastinate a lot and also, I’m just not that efficient. When I do homework, I am efficient and take a lot longer than some. Of course there are worse schedules out their than mine, but I’m sure those people are much more efficient. Especially when it comes to studying, I take a lot longer (upwards of 2 hours) than a lot of my friends. It sucks. A lot. But I guess the grades pay off. </p>
<p>Also, I’m practically addicted to caffeine. Every morning I drink some really strong tea and that helps, but it’s really bad, and I need to start weaning myself off of it so I don’t form a lifelong dependence, lol.</p>
<p>I go to bed around eight usually and wake wake up around 3:30 to handle homework. I have stress-related headaches so after school homework isn’t an option for me.</p>
<p>I know a girl who goes to bed when she gets home (besides having a rigorous academic schedule, she plays many sports), sleeps for two hours, wakes up and does homework for an hour, sleeps for two hours, another hour of homework, etc, all night.</p>
<p>I’ve become more interested in this lately, it’s called polyphasic sleeping and in this situation it seems to work out okay. I think I’m going to try it over the summer because I guess it’s hard to get acclimated to, but once you are it’s not bad. I think I might be able to use this to get much more work done :)</p>
<p>I go to bed these days at 12:30 and get up at 6:45 when I have club meetings before school, or 7:00 when I don’t. </p>
<p>@GW3921, holy crap that girl is committed. Wow. Polyphasic sleeping seems cool, but I’m not sure if it’ll work for me. Maybe in college…</p>
<p>Oh I know! My problem is I cannot even get myself to take a nap</p>
<p>I get about six hours, I have a mostly free block in the morning where I do some homework/studying. I also have my extracurriculars, but they don’t detract from my time. I actually hang out with my friends sometimes after school instead of the weekend because I like to stay home and watch TV and do homework lol</p>
<p>@GW3921, Oh I can take a nap in a jiffy. My problem is waking up.</p>
<p>Drank some coffee this morning and didn’t even feel a little drowsy all day. Thank you to whoever discovered coffee. </p>
<p>I just don’t sleep at this point.</p>
<p>Yeahhh, looks like I’ll be getting about 4 hours of sleep tonight. Really excited for the snow storm that’s coming my way so I can catch up on some sleep. :D</p>
<p>I’m not getting nearly enough sleep nowadays. I’m kept awake because of all my STEM courses. Not to mention my English class since we have to write one essay per week. If I’m lucky, I get to sleep at 12 and wake up at 6:30. If I have a LOT of homework, I sleep at 9 and wake up at around 2 to finish up. High school sucks.</p>
<p>These days I’m going to bed at 1AM and getting up at 6:45AM.</p>
<p>I’m wondering where all your parents are. If my kids were getting less than 7 hours sleep on a regular basis I’d make them drop some activity and/or class. We know it’s not healthy, and no high school club or class is worth wrecking their health for. </p>
<p>My mom got some melatonin and let me take some. Made me super tired before went to bed. I don’t think there’s any long-term effects to taking it, since its naturally created in your head anyway when its time for bed.</p>
<p><a href=“Melatonin Sleep Aid Supplement: Effectiveness, Dosage, & Side Effects”>Melatonin Sleep Aid Supplement: Effectiveness, Dosage, & Side Effects;
<p>Haha…I can sort of relate to you. Lots of APs/no sleep. A good day for me is 4-5 hours. Bad day, 1-3 hours. Blame sports and everything else…</p>
<p>I’m so scared for when tennis season starts. I don’t know if I’ll be sleeping at all. D:</p>
<p>I’m currently a junior and take 5 AP classes (plus one research class for Governor’s School that’s harder than some of my AP classes)
Initially during XC season, my life was hell. I came home around 5 pm, and once I showered and ate, it was 6:30 pm. I took a 30 min nap and started on my homework. Sometimes I wouldn’t finish until 3 am. I tried changing my comfy chair to a metal one, read textbooks standing up, etc. (I think standing up and pinching myself helped)
Then I’d wake up at 6 am, if not earlier to study for a test. I was always tired and tried to restock on sleep on the weekends.
Now I have Scholastic Bowl and Literary Magazine that aren’t as time-consuming. I used to play Varsity Soccer, but I’m not this year. I don’t wanna go through another hell. Now I get my homework done much faster now I’m more focused and less sleep-deprived. I feel and look better. I’d say I get around 5-7 hrs of sleep on average.
Oh! and black tea saved my life. I basically love all my teachers so I don’t have to worry about falling asleep in class
If all else fails, stand up and do your homework with caffeine while slapping yourself every now and then. (I actually did) Hope that helped. :)</p>
<p>Sleep deprivation can become a major problem when it comes to handling high school (and even perhaps college) life. Time management is key. That is all I know.
More and more students are immersing themselves in multiple activities, and although it can be overwhelming, with the right time management skills, you can get at least six hours of school a night.</p>
<p>Use the time in between classes, before classes, before school, on the bus, during lunch, after finishing a classwork assignment early, or on the ride home from practice–whatever it is, if you find yourself with two free hands and a roaming brain, get your hands on your homework.
One thing I do is I have a small folder that has all “easy” homework assignments. That means any quick chemistry worksheets, Spanish worksheets, math word problem worksheets, or any homework assignment that is easily done without a bulky textbook or computer. That way, I can just pull it out in between classes or on the bus and quickly finish it without fishing around in this binder or that binder for my homework. It’s really efficient.
Also, if you have a phone with a somewhat good quality, you can take pictures of your textbook and do your textbook-requiring homework in the in-between times, as well.
What I’m saying is–there’s always a way around the homework-load, and managing your time wisely is the difference between falling asleep during chem after thirty minutes of sleep and getting seven hours of sleep even with 3 AP classes.</p>
<p>When I find myself up late at night doing a project and two essays, it’s usually tea or some fruit (usually tangerines, hah) that keeps me awake. By keeping your mouth moving, my brain knows it’s not yet time to collapse on the bed. Sometimes listening to music helps–despite the numerous articles against listening to pop music, I find that it does help when you’re on the brink of falling asleep and you really need to finish, say, reading The Great Gatsby by tomorrow. Of course, when it gets distracting, you can always turn it off or lower the volume. But keeping noise helps me (though it can be different for everyone).
During school, I’d say that chewing gum or having a piece of candy (a mint, preferably) helps keep you awake. Though if you find yourself falling asleep in class, I’m afraid I can’t help you then. I don’t drink coffee, though.
The best suggestion, however, is that you avoid being sleepy altogether and use your time wisely. c;</p>
<p>One strategy I tried using was to do my homework until about nine or ten and then set my alarm for four o clock in the morning to finish the rest. By giving myself two time limits (finishing by 9 and getting up at 4), I give myself pressure to finish my homework before a time limit.</p>
<p>For those who are easily distracted on the Internet and find time management difficult due to the Internet, there is an add-on on Chrome called StayFocusd which I /strongly/ recommend. You can block all of the distracting websites (or exclusively allow certain ones), and even block the chrome add-ons page to prevent yourself from disabling the add-on, as well as enable it on incognito mode. I tend to turn it on “nuclear option” (you’ll see) and then make the icon invisible on Chrome so that it is disabled for a set amount of time (say, for 24 hours before a major test). </p>
<p>Although it may be important to keep good time management skills, if you find yourself sitting in your desk for hours at a time, always remember to take a break. One break every thirty minutes to an hour is very helpful–and by a break, I mean five or ten minutes looking away from your textbook or essay, stretching, going downstairs for a small snack, or getting a drink of water, NOT going on Facebook or watching funny youtube videos. A large percentage of those who think it’s okay to take an ‘internet break’ will find themselves an hour later still on the Internet and with one hour less of sleep.</p>
<p>But really, in the end, it’s your ability to manage your time. If, even with what you consider good time management, you find it difficult to have at least five or six hours of sleep a night, perhaps you should cut back on your workload, or ease up a little on extracurriculars. Of course, if you really think you need it, then by all means, it’s your choice.</p>
<p>I think that sleep deprivation is a huge problem, especially if you have ever compared you state of mind when you have gotten a decent amount of sleep with your usual amount. There is a huge difference in your mental clarity that I am sure all of you have noticed, and this is important to consider before large tests. One tip I have picked up for desperate situations is to get a good amount of sleep two days before a major test. Usually, this makes up for not sleeping the night directly before a major assessment, because I find that it is the sleep quality of two nights ago that really affects my daily capabilities. </p>
<p>If you are falling asleep at your desk, it is helpful to keep a water bottle with cold water with you, and even if you take a little “nap”, always keep the light on to prevent that nap from turning into a long, disastrous slumber. Make sure you do not , under any circumstances, move to your bed. That inevitably leads to sleeping on your textbook!</p>
<p>I agree with chootimes, Stayfocusd is incredible! It has definitely helped me control my facebook usage! One little trick I have picked up is taking a watch (an alarm clock works too, but having a watch on your wrist is more effective I think) and setting it to beep at 25 minute intervals. My watch has a specific beep schedule, so it will beep at 10, 15, 20, and so on. Every time you hear a beep, you have to reevaluate what you are doing. This helped me stay on track for midyear studying. Warning- this did drive me a bit nuts after 6 ish hours, so don’t go overboard!</p>
<p>Finally, make sure you do not have more than 2 nights of <5 hours of sleep a week, this really messes up your sleep cycle, concentration levels, and immune system. There’s nothing worse than being sleep deprived and sick, trust me!</p>
<p>Junior represent.</p>
<p>I typically sleep about 7.5 hours a night, from about 10:30-11 to 6:45-7. All regular level classes, so my homework sometimes can be as little as a five minute worksheet in Pre-Calculus. However, I normally just chill out after my homework, then I shower/eat in an interchangeable order. My mom goes to the gym till about six or so, then makes my dinner around 7:30. But here’s where the weird part comes in. </p>
<p>I get to bed at about 10. However, I deprive myself of thirty minutes to an hour of sleep because I just goof around on my phone, going on Facebook and Instagram. </p>