John Doe, a student at Milton High School, lies comfortably
asleep, warm under the covers, when a dissonant beeping breaks the blissful
silence. Groaning, he wishes it would go away, but the crescendoing cacophony
continues. His fist slams the snooze button, and he is only conscious of the
quiet for a second before he slips back into a slumber. Nine minutes later, the
cycle repeats: alarm, snooze, sleep. When the alarm sounds a third time, the
flashing numbers on the clock face catch his eye before he can silence it. It
takes a moment for his tired brain to process the illuminated numbers, but when
he does, his eyes grow wide. The numbers seem to mock him—he has exactly
twenty-seven minutes before the first bell rings to throw on an outfit, gargle
some mouthwash, swing his backpack over his shoulder, jump in the car, and race
to school.
John’s stressful rush out the door is the routine for the
majority of high school students. He has no time to eat breakfast or prepare
for the day ahead, and his grogginess means that his performance at school
suffers. All his problems would be solved, one might argue, if he only woke up
earlier. He would then have enough time to eat a healthy breakfast, review
his homework, and start school with a fresh, focused mind. It’s an easy fix,
right?
Wrong. Waking up earlier would be counterintuitive, because
John’s problem is that he doesn’t get enough sleep. Since his body is resting
and refreshing for such a short time, he needs all the sleep he can get. Why
doesn’t he simply go to bed earlier? Here one arrives at the root of John’s dilemma:
his teachers assign so much homework and have such high expectations that,
after a busy afternoon of sports, clubs, or music, he
needs to stay up past midnight finishing his numerous assignments.
Ideally, John would compromise—find a balance between
schoolwork and sleep. However, since the repercussions of failing to complete
schoolwork are more immediate than those of living on five or six hours of
sleep for five nights a week, he chooses the former over the latter. The
importance of studying and hard work is unquestionable. But is it really worth
the risk of car accidents, weight gain, and a compromised immune system that
results from chronic sleep loss?
"Consequences of Insufficient Sleep." Healthy Sleep. Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine, 2 Jan. 2008. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
Simon, this post is well written. By this point in the year, your talent as a writer is undeniable. You have a gift. Unfortunately, while this post is well written, I, personally, don't find it too convincing. I was surprised to see that you cited a source at the end. What part of your post was cited from this source? The only part of this post that is remotely scientific or convincing is the final paragraph, and even that feels vague at best. One would think that if you really wanted to convince someone about the importance of sleep, you would have dedicated more time to addressing the "Consequences" and less time setting up the hypothetical "John Doe."
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