Although some people forget, high school students have lives outside of school. On average about 30% of high school students have jobs for at least a portion of the school year. On top of that, they have social and family lives, which are an important part of high schoolers’ development

With the constant pressure from parents, teachers, society and possibly peers to maintain a steady GPA, students often put their schoolwork in front of their mental health and their much needed beauty sleep.

Students put themselves at risk by putting their homework before their well-being. These risks can be reduced by decreasing the amount of homework.

“I think 30 minutes of homework a night per class [would work best for me],” sophomore Colin Surridge said.

Thirty minutes of homework each night per class (three hours) is less than the average amount of time students typically spend on homework, which is six hours and 40 minutes.

A study conducted at Stanford University found that students who are identified as “high achievers” spend too much time on homework and experience added stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives and a state of isolation.

High achievers are not the only people who can experience these problems. Of course, those who struggle to keep up with the homework can develop the same difficulties.

“[Homework causes] more anxiety than usual. There’s been times where I can’t sleep at night,” Surridge said.

How exactly does too much homework create difficulties like Surridge’s sleeping problems? Well, the answer is actually quite simple.

The body has a natural alarm system run by a hormone called cortisol. When students are under constant stress – because of schoolwork – their cortisol levels rise exponentially, and it negatively affects their mental and physical health. Most commonly in teenagers, too much stress throws off the body’s most important routines, like a sleep schedule.

Instead of sleeping at night, approximately 75.2% of students in the U.S stay up late to finish a school assignment.

Staying up late to finish an assignment instead of obtaining the recommended 8.5-9 hours of nightly sleep is actually counterproductive and lessens the amount of material that students are able to intake.

While sleep deprivation is unfortunately common among teenagers, there are severe negative impacts that need to be brought to the attention of school administrators and teachers.

Teenagers who don’t get enough sleep at night are more prone to developing insulin resistance, which is the forerunner to Type 2 Diabetes. Sleep deprivation is also a significant factor in car accidents, the most common cause of death in teenagers.

If teachers could abide by what is best for their students– based on their busy schedules; extracurriculars and part-time jobs– the risk of teenagers becoming depressed, sleep deprived or physically ill is decreased immensely.