A Nighttime Post

This is a nighttime post. As this blog progresses, these will become the norm. This is because, as a full-time student, most of my free time comes, shockingly, at night. There are also lovely filters on the school's computers which prohibit access to blogs and blogging websites. Something about wanting to make sure students are focusing on their school work during school hours. What the crap?

Anyway, did you know that the teenage body is supposed to get nine hours of sleep every night? I'm not entirely sure how that's possible. No teenager I know gets that much sleep. Our schedules rarely permit it. School, work, homework, studying, and socializing keep people up until midnight, if not later. And then we all have to wake up in time to make the first bell at 7:30. There aren't enough hours in the day.

Aside from that, research has been done that says that melatonin-production schedules in teenagers are contradictory to our current schedules. Melatonin is the hormone that puts the human body to sleep, and in teenagers, the hormone doesn't even begin production until 1 o'clock in the morning. This means that the teenage body is not naturally accustomed to going to bed in time to get those 9 hours of sleep it needs and still wake up in time for school.

Clearly, something's gotta give. And for most teenagers I know, what gets tossed to the wayside is adequate sleep. Hooray for nocturnal teenagers.

Sleep well, my darlings,
Rachel Leigh