Imagine yourself on just a blank canvas. Just a normal blank white canvas, nothing much really. However, you have the ability to do and make whatever you desire.You could be a celebrity, a liontamer, or even something surreal like a bird just viewing the world from above. Let your mind wander, it’s all yours. It’s as easy as a simple thought.

you notice something, however. An interruption of some sort. A loud noise, the interruption appears to be. That canvas you were just on was merely a dream, you realise, as you turn off your alarm clock. You are yet again forced to lug yourself out of bed and grudgingly prepare yourself for another day of school.

Sleep. Possibly the most essential thing next to eating and drinking. It’s important for everyone to get enough sleep so they can perform at their best. Students need to perform their best so they can get good grades. Good grades for everyone is good for the school and so on. See the pattern? It all begins with a good night’s rest.

The problem, however, lies in two places. First of which is school itself. Now, for elementary students, they have it good. The average school start time for elementary schools is usually 8 or 9 o’ clock. However, that time is changed in middle school. Usually it begins around 7 to 8 o’ clock. Not much earlier, but high school has even earlier start times, around 6 to 7 o’clock. Surely, you have this problem as well. Teenagers need about 8 hours of sleep at least to perform at their best. The school start time does not help at all.

Ironically enough, kids contribute to their own problem as well. Usually, if they stay up late at all, they’ll stay up maybe a little later than their normal curfew. However, they can also stay up unusually long, maybe until 12 in the morning doing homework or binging on YouTube videos. Teenagers have a growing independence by the time they’re in high school. Because they have greater independence, they’ll take the liberties of being older and stay up just a wee bit longer, but end up struggling for an extra 5 minutes of sleep.

How much sleep have you been getting? Have you been staying up? Remember, the more time you give yourself to sleep, the longer you have to explore your canvas of creativity, the place where many big ideas start.