Argumentative Essay: The Importance of Sleep for Teenagers

The recommended time for teenagers to go to bed is 9-9:30. How are teenagers expected to go to bed at 9-9:30 after doing 2 hours of homework, after school sports, spending time with family, having dinner, showering, and brushing your teeth?  From personal experience, when I had 3 day weekends in 8th grade. I got 3 100% and the rest were normal As. This happened because the teachers started to give us more slack and understood that we weren't doing the best and needed help. Having the extra day really helped us get into the right mind after covid

My first reason for why we should have 3 day weekends is because teenagers need more sleep. During the weekdays, the average amount of sleep teenagers get is 7-7 ½ hours. The recommended amount of sleep for teenagers on weekdays is 8-10 hours. “Teenagers aged 13–18 years should sleep 8–10 hours per 24 hours.” As stated by  the CDC.  The recommended time for teenagers to go to bed is 9-9:30. Teenager’s brains are still developing and an essential need for them to develop right is sleep. “Sleep plays a critical role in learning and memory, emotional regulation, and related brain structure development.” according to Jiang F.

The weekends are the main days that students who struggle with mental health are able to gather themselves. Students are able to relax more during their 3 day weekends and focus on mental health and catch up on sleep. “Giving students a three-day weekend more often encourages them to prioritize their mental health. Especially nowadays, students feel that they are only worth love and respect if they excel in all of their classes. They do not feel encouraged to live in the moment and enjoy such an influential period of their life” according to unewsonline. Teenagers who are struggling with depression do better when they are alone. Two days a week isn’t enough time to have to yourself after doing 5 days of 8 hours of school. If we were given three day weekends, we would be able to have more time to manage, meaning we can dedicate more time to catching up on classes, more time to socialize, and more time to run errands.  Studies done by washington edu show that teenagers who get more sleep get better grades and are able to focus more.

Schools should give teenagers more slack. For one, Teenagers are expected to work for 8 hours, 5 days a week while also being given hours of homework every night and during weekends. How is that good for us? I understand that our brains need to learn how to manage our time and everything but speaking from experience, we're getting more and more exhausted by the day. Teens' brains are still developing and still schools put all of this stress on teenagers and wonder why so many teenagers lately have a mental illness. It is known that putting some stress on teenagers teaches them important life skills but the amount of stress being put on teens is starting to cause mental problems.

That is why I think that schools should implement 3 day weekends. The weekends are the main days that teenagers are able to gather themselves but there are only 2 days. By the time they end up feeling better it's already monday. As I've said before, Teenagers need more sleep. The recommended amount of sleep is way higher than the average amount of sleep that teenagers get and I think that's a problem. We should at least have more time during the weekend where we can catch up on all the sleep that we need. Lastly,  schools need to give teenagers more slack. They are expected to work 5 days a week for 8 hours and only get 2 days of freedom before having to repeat?