From the moment students step into high school after a summer break that seems to have flown by, they keep their eyes on the prize of so-called success. Some seek to fill up their schedule become- a star athlete, grab a main role in drama, be an academic genius or all of the above. As many students are taught either from parents, friends or themselves that they are never good enough, so some shoot for it all, and the stress starts.

As if this all isn’t stressful enough, students are constantly reminded by social media how having enough likes and followers makes them feel. All of this trying-to-be-better-than-the-person-next- to-you and not just a betterversion of yourself  can lead to an unsettling mental  cost. Not to mention physical, social and emotional.

Striving for an accomplishment is rewarding and healthy. However, when this motivation is based on competition and interferes with sleep, a social life, and eating properly it is not the way to go. This can cause unhealthy life-long habits that continue down the road and have dire consequences.

It’s extremely scary to think that five years of high school determines your future. Students go from needing a pass to the bathroom to quickly being pushed to plan out their entire life. Balancing school, a social life, technology and everything in-between gives students little to no time to take a moment to think and process.

To many, high school has manifested many unhealthy habits that disrupt lives. In order to fit the standards of what colleges view to be the perfect student, many drop a couple hours to even a full night of sleep to accomplish this seemingly unrealistic standard and be academically heard.  A couple nights of only several hours of sleep can easily become a serious issue. I commonly hear phrases such as “I’m so tired right now,” “I stayed up until 2 last night doing homework,” and “I can’t focus at all because I’m so tired.” These are almost always casually slipped into conversations at any point in the school day.

In all honestly, it even seems as though the serious issue of sleep deprivation is a way of bragging. It’s a way of saying that the student is working hard on getting where they want to go. But this isn’t cool or reasonable. It’s sad to think that it’s more normal to be tired in school than energized. I can spot Zombies wandering to bio labs after an away game or after drowning in homework the night before.

With innocent intentions,  many students have replaced being well rested with being caffinated. I am a huge offender of this. When I found myself getting three hours or less of sleep junior year, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts became my new best friends; ever since, it’s safe to say I have multiple coffees nearly everyday. Although drinking coffee is proven to not be as bad as it previously said to have been, relying on caffeine instead of the proper amount of sleep can cause some serious problems.    

Since getting into college is more competitive than ever before, the increased academic pressure leaves teens worrying that they won’t succeed. Being average just isn’t good enough. If you’re anything like me, opening my red book to see the whole space for that day filled usually ends with me feeling very overwhelmed and stressed for about 20 minutes and then completely shutting down, doing anything and everything possible other than my tasks.

Although it’s extremely crucial and important to work hard, challenge yourself, stay busy and be well-rounded throughout high school, staying within reasonably healthy boundaries needs to be top priority.