The bell rings at 6:00 a.m., prompting the awakening student to lazily silence the alarm quickly. Having stayed up to finish schoolwork, the student only managed a few hours of sleep. Everything feels groggy, and they wander throughout the halls like a zombie, barely able to focus or work well in class. They are a victim of a well-known silent plague within school, sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation plagues the existence of human souls. Without an ideal schedule, humans get sleep deprived and struggle with school. Student body from McHenry attend school sleep deprived and experience the effects of poor cognition, emotional difficulties and many other symptoms. During class, they can’t learn and perform at their peak. This one day or weeks worth of sleep deprivation makes the students fail the class. 

Sleep deprivation is a common issue within the student body. Some students who get a lack of sleep are distracted from technology and other outside sources, but others from dealing with the rigorous amounts of homework. Either way this lack of sleep can cause students to feel tired and defeated. 

In the case of sophomore Andy Barranco, his schedule is immersed with all honors and AP classes states, and he feels the unnecessary work gets in the way of his sleep schedule.

“I get around six hours of sleep. Teachers should lower the amount of homework that is distributed to the public. Much of the homework that is distributed is useless,” he said. “Teachers should really take into account if this homework is actually useful, [if we] can cover the general idea in class or [if] it requires an actual homework assignment to be given out.”

Though some students find the large amount of homework to be overwhelming and ruin their sleep schedule, others feel they can have it completed on time without any issues. Sophomore Liam Krater, who’s in all honors classes and an AP class, feels the work doesn’t warrant lost sleep.

“I get a lot of sleep, so getting a lot of homework doesn’t bother me,” he said. “With all the things going on in my schedule, I can fit in a day for homework.” 

Some upperclassmen, however, feel they can’t help but get affected by sleep deprivation. With all of the time put into school, having jobs, hobbies, and more things going on in her life, senior Karsen Cox finds herself losing sleep.

“Sleep deprivation does affect me in my everyday life. I get four hours of sleep, and typically go to sleep at 11 p.m.,” she said. “Stress & anxiety, as well as homework, can affect me not getting sleep. I am [also] a nanny, so I typically work for six-eight hours.”

Sleep deprivation is something that students feel will continuously affect those at McHenry. While some recommend changing their schedule or homework load students receive, others personally believe it’s a matter of properly balancing it all. No matter the solution recommended, it’s important for people to remember to try and get the most amount of sleep they can to avoid the silent plague that looms over students.