You’re working on an essay, last minute, and you can’t think of anything to write about. I’m in this situation a lot. I know that there are a lot of people like me, I think that I might be a little better off than some others, but it’s still not that great of a spot. It’s that situation where you would rather do anything in the world than write an essay. It’s not only essay’s too; there are more classes than just English. There are also a lot of expectations for me as well, I’ve had a great start at least. Elementary and middle school were the easiest things in the world. First year high school was also fairly easy, I got through it with little issues. And then second year is where things got a little bit scary. Somehow I still did good enough, even to get into tougher classes. It’s finally tough enough to where I have to try to maintain even just B’s in most of my classes. Even then, it only gets tougher.

One of my teachers told me that they expected one full hour of practice every night for exam prep. Luckily, not all of my classes are going to require as much effort to do great, but I know that at least a few of them will. If all six classes did take one hour a night, you would get six hours of studying at home per day. Now factor in the time school takes up, around seven to eight hours a day, and you have ten to eleven hours of free time on weekdays. But we aren’t done yet, if we subtract the “required” hours of sleep according to the National Sleep Foundation, which is eight to ten for teenagers (Wheaton), then we have one to two hours of free time per day, assuming that we strive to do the best. Unless of course we have a job, or chores, or anything else to do that any normal person has to do. Then we might just have no free time. Unless you somehow enjoy learning, then this is a tough task. I can only imagine the stress of those who have the toughest classes in our school, who really do have to put in this much time every day, not even just exam week.

Of course there is a way to get free time, at least if you’re desperate enough. You starve yourself from sleep. Even though I know that staying up all night is going cause suffering the next day, I still do it anyways. I’d rather stay up all night doing what I want to do rather than go to sleep only to go back to school.

According to a study from the National Sleep Foundation, only 15% of teens get the suggested 8-10 hours of sleep on school nights. Not only that, but in adolescence, your body’s sleep pattern naturally makes it hard to fall asleep before eleven at night. Not every person might have this issue, but to me there is an obvious correlation between the average school start times and sleeping patterns. Another study found that in order for students to get the required amount of sleep, school should begin at 8:30 or later (Wheaton). The same study points out how school open up at 8:03 am on average in America. Obviously it’s not an easy feat changing school start times, but if nothing happens, I view it as sacrificing the health of students.

I think that the only way to maintain both your health and grades is to take breaks in between work. Even if it means not finishing your work in time, I think that taking time for yourself is one of the most important things a person can do. You need to go talk to your friends, your family, or just go play with your pet. Anything to get yourself away from the work is important. Finding a way to balance your free time and work is the only way to do well as a student today.

You walk away from your desk, out the door, into the forest outside. You can see the leaves on the trees in the distance. You can see the ripples on the water. The details of the outdoors bring you back to a calm state, suddenly you’re not frustrated anymore, you don’t care about the essay. Then you’re motivation begins to come back.

Breaks like these are an important part of our work ethic. Imagine if there were no little breaks between classes, and you just sat in the same chair all day for six hours straight. I could never get through that, my work would dwindle to worthless bits of writing here and there. This goes for adults as well, I know even though they go without breaks for longer periods of time, but they definitely get their lunch breaks. Minors are required by law in Michigan to get a thirty minute break in a five hour shift. The fact is that teens, and humans in general, need time off to get their work done.