According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2006 Sleep in America poll, which surveyed American teenagers regarding their sleeping habits, “Just one in five adolescents get an optimal nine hours of sleep on school nights; nearly one-half (45%) sleep less than eight hours on school nights.”

The National Sleep Foundation considers a teenager to be anywhere between 6^th grade and 12^th grade and they recognize that middle school students sleep more than high school students, as stated, “The average 6^th grader sleeps an average of 8.4 hours on school nights, while a typical high school senior sleeps just 6.9 hours.  Over the course of a week, high school seniors miss nearly 12 hours (11.7) of needed sleep.” 

Many high school seniors at Notre Dame Academy are living proof of these statistics. 

Senior Calvin Berceau said he sleeps for six hours or less a night, as he has been going to bed between the hours of 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. recently. 

Why so late?  “That is the time that I finally am able to get things done,” he explained. “If I don’t get things done by that time, then I have to start to drink caffeine to keep my eyes open.”

Berceau generally wakes up in the morning wishing that he had gotten more sleep the previous night, although he says he usually does not fall asleep at school. “On occasion, it happens,” he admitted.

Fellow senior Sam Pallini says that she averages three to six hours of sleep “on a good day.”

She typically goes to bed between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. and explained that she goes to bed late because she has homework, she has to carpool her brothers, she has outside-of-school prep such as Miss Teen, and she helps cleaning.

Even though she sometimes feels tired at school, she said that she doesn’t wake up in the morning feeling like she wants more sleep.  “At this rate, I don’t care anymore,” said Pallini.

Senior Shannon Curtin, similar to Berceau and Pallini, averages four or five hours of sleep a night but usually goes to bed between 11:30 p.m. and midnight. 

Curtin said, “I have later activities at night and by the time they are done I’m not always tired right away.”

Berceau, Pallini and Curtin share similar reasons for going to bed late – homework, chores, and extra-curricular activities.    

Other seniors, such as Samantha VanGompel, Patrick Palines, and Konrad Roznik say that procrastination from their homework has a lot to do with the time that they go to bed at night. 

VanGompel, who gets between four and five hours of sleep on a school night, said, “I think I’ll get things done if I stay up later,” and Palines and  Roznik, who get between five and six hours of sleep on school nights, agreed. 

Unlike Berceau, Curtin and Pallini, who said that they do not sleep more on weekends than on school nights, VanGompel, Palines, and Roznik do sleep more on weekends than on school nights in order to “catch up” on their sleep. 

However, most teenagers do not get enough sleep on weekends to make up for their lost sleep on the weeknights.

According to the National Sleep Foundation 2006 Sleep in America poll, “On the weekends, adolescents sleep longer than they do during the school week, but they’re not sleeping enough to catch up on the amount of sleep lost on school nights.  Overall, adolescents get an average of 8.9 hours of sleep on a non-school night, about equal to the optimal amount recommended per night.”

Seniors Hillary Debbout and Taylor McKeefry said that they always sleep until noon on weekends.

Of course, there are teenagers who are exceptions to the norm.

Senior Elise Frohna is one of the exceptions. 

Although the National Sleep Foundation found that more than one-half of high school seniors go to bed at 11 p.m. or later on school nights, Frohna generally goes to bed at 10 p.m. on school nights and sleeps for nine hours a night.

“There is no point in staying up any longer,” said Frohna.   Also, against the norm, she said that she usually gets less sleep on the weekends than on weeknights. 

Many students wish that they could get as much sleep as Frohna does, but they simply do not have the time or motivation to do so. 

Senior Emily Erdman said that with“homework, a new job, working out, and singing” there’s no way that she can get more than five or six hours a night. 

“Anytime I go to bed before midnight is early for me,” Erdman said.