It’s past midnight, my desk is cluttered with papers, my laptop’s overfilled with tabs, and my friends on the phone are silent. I am very tired, resorting to relying on caffeine and sugar to keep me awake, as I continue to study for upcoming summatives and finish various assignments.
This is now my average nightly routine and the reality of my life as a junior in high school.
I already knew since the start of junior year that it wasn’t going to be as simple or easy as my freshman and sophomore years. My schedule, with the majority of my classes consisting of IB and STEM courses, are very quick-paced, meaning that many assignments and tests begin to stack up, leaving little time for myself after school. To add on, I have many clubs that also require my time as well.
When I arrive home, I tend to take naps before studying due to the lack of sleep I got from the previous night along with the long school day.
While staying up to study is beneficial in the degree of me processing the knowledge, not getting enough sleep affects my concentration and understanding of the subject.

I typically stay up to study but I’ve realized that no matter how much I do it, the things I need to remember don’t stay in my brain due to me being too tired the next morning. This causes me to make simple mistakes and not remember the content being taught, since I was dozing off.
However, academics are not the only reason to why I tend to sleep very late. Having to balance my time between studying, social activities, and my alone-time is very difficult and consuming. Due to wanting to give my mind a break by going out, I am finishing my studies late at night. And even after everything is done, the only time I can get for myself is way past midnight, causing me to sleep early in the mornings.
With the constant fighting for good sleep, I started to notice its effects through my constant fidgeting, lack of concentration, falling asleep in class, and consistent headaches.
Not only that but my wellbeing, mental health, and social skills have been negatively affected as well. I tend to be in more of a lazy, isolated mood instead of my typical cheerful and sociable attitude. In addition, I become self-demotivated because it gets me questioning my ability to learn.
It’s a lot easier for me to say that I’ll ‘just going to sleep earlier’ or simply that I’m ‘going to fix my sleep schedule,’ rather than actually going through with it. This is because of the consistent dwelling of staying up to do my school work.
It’s been so embedded in my routine for the longest time that it’s hard to alter my schedule as it’s already been established from the beginning of the year until now.