The Necessity of Sleep

We've stayed up all night before, either for lack of time to do a project for school, the novelty of staying up all night, or to watch that late night show. However, like many of us have been told, sleep is the last thing people need to give up when having to get something done in a short amount of time. Sleep is our body's natural time to restore itself, and for us teenagers, to grow. And sorry to disappoint readers, but sleep is not a luxury, sleep is a necessity! When was the last time you sacrificed sleep so you could do something else which seemed more important to you at the time?

When we stay up late, for example, not going to sleep at all one night, our entire sleep cycles can be thrown off completely. Our bodies crave sleep, even though we might not necessarily feel tired. So when we don't sleep an entire night, our body gets confused, and our sleep cycles are thrown out of whack. There are many symptoms of sleep deprivation, and as we look over them, we see that these symptoms are appearing in more and more teenagers every day.

So, as we continue on with our lives of schedules, homework, relaxing, fun, and boredom. We must remember that sleep is not our enemy. Sleep is our friend, and when we start to cut our time spent sleeping, the effects may be positive for a time, but when our bodies catch up to us, the effects can be devastating.