The way in which your semester starts will set the scene for how the rest of the term will go. Priming yourself for what is to come early can help you gain a strong and necessary sense of responsibility.

A key part in proper time management is organization. Scheduling important events and upcoming homework in a planner aids students in remembering their assignments and help set priorities.

Another imperative part of maximizing educational potential is getting the required amount of sleep for high schoolers, which is eight hours at the minimum.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that almost seventy percent of teens are not getting the recommended hours of sleep.

Junior Anteny Sullivan gets around five hours of sleep a night.

“I stay late  up because I have work, so I can’t do my homework until later at night,” Sullivan said.  

Sleep deprivation is infesting itself in high schools all over the world. Students stay up into the early hours of the morning with an abundance of homework and studying to accomplish. However, this can prove to be more harmful than helpful due to the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

“Sleep is more important than cramming; if you have to cram, you’re in trouble,” AP Human Geography  teacher Aaron Cousins said.

In a study done by the University of Luebeck, two groups of students were presented with a simple math problem. One group had gotten eight hours of sleep, while the other group had pulled an all-nighter. The group who had slept were three times more likely to answer the math problem correctly than the group who had not slept at all.

Jan Born, director of Neuroendocrinology at Luebeck and the leader of the study, believed the results support biochemical studies of the brain that indicate memories are restructured before they are stored.

The changes leading to creativity or problem-solving insight occur during ‘slow wave’ or deep sleep that typically occurs in the first four hours of the sleep cycle.

Finding time to sleep begins with proper time management and studying/doing homework at the appropriate hours. Procrastination is a major stress inducer and by starting assignments at a proximate time students can avoid unnecessary anxiety.

“When I go home and actually do all the work I’ve been assigned it’s a big stress reliever. Keeping up with all the little things like vocabulary and small assignments makes me feel so much better,” senior Bailey Poston said.

Subsequently, proper time management and sleep will significantly help students with their health and education. The sooner students organize and manage their priorities, the smoother their schedule will become.

“Don’ t waste the whole semester and then try to learn it all in one day. If you waste the semester, there’s going to be a consequence,” Cousins said.