Sleeping for New Year's by Brooklyn

Sleeping for New Year's by Brooklyn - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

This may seem silly, and you may not take me serious at first. However, my New Year’s resolution that will help me to become a better student in 2016 is to get more sleep. I already do my homework every day, and I spend more time studying than I can even account for. The rest of my hours are spent working at the local grocery store, Piggly Wiggly. If you ask any high school student, many of their schedules are the same, but maybe we are doing this all wrong. Maybe instead of spending our time deep in the books, we should spend it deep in our dreams. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we should not study, but that we should make sleep more of a priority in our busy lives. Study after study has shown that sleep is one of the most important activities when it comes to cognitive development. Sleep deprivation can have a significant impact in both our memory and concentration.
To start with, sleep plays an important role in the consolidation of memories. This takes place during the sleep cycles, in which neural connections are being made to transmit our memories from short-term to long-term. The less sleep we receive, the harder our neurons have to work, further tiring them out. Overworked neurons cannot function properly, thus not allowing us to retrieve previously obtained information. If I was able to make sleep more of a priority in my busy schedule, my memory would most likely improve significantly. I would be able to retain information that I learned throughout the school day much easier. Overall, sleep should be one of the top concerns of all students to further improve their education skills.
Furthermore, sleep deprivation leads to lower levels of alertness and concentration. This alone can make school extremely difficult. Since, I am not focused as well; it is more difficult to retrieve and retain information. A sleep-deprived person cannot focus their attention optimally and therefore cannot learn efficiently. This also obstructs the ability to use logical reasoning and complex thought. Moreover, this idea also relates back to memory. If a student cannot concentrate in school and fully understand what is being taught, how are we supposed to remember it? Lower levels of alertness can also cause judgment impairment. This can reflect in taking a test. We may not fully be able to understand what the question is asking, therefore not answer it correctly. Sleep is of high importance when it comes to concentration and could largely reflect in student’s grades.
In conclusion, sleep deprivation has been proved to cause worsened memory and lower levels of alertness and concentration. A study done at the University of Kentucky showed that hours of sleep per school night were significantly associated with GPA. If we, as students, worked to receive the recommended hours of sleep, all of these problems could be solved. My New Year’s resolution to make me a better student in 2016 is to work to make sleep more of a priority in my busy life.