Anastasia Works has heavy eyelids.
“I don’t get a lot of sleep,” Works said. “I work until midnight. So by the time I get all my homework done, it’s about two o’clock when I go to bed.”
The Nova Scotia Agricultural College student has a full course load and is one shift short of a full-time job. End-of-year exams and projects have kept Works busy for the past couple weeks.
“I’ve probably not been sleeping as much as I should, just because I’ve been pushing extra just to get this all done, on top of work.”
In addition, Works sometimes has trouble drifting off at night.
“A lot of the time, when I work, I’m exhausted enough that I just pass out,” she said. “But other times, if I have a lot of homework to do and I’m busy with work, I’m stressed and I stay up rolling around in bed and I don’t sleep well.”
And she’s not alone.
Researchers at Flinders University in South Australia studied 81 high school students and found that 95 per cent of them had at least one type of sleeping problem. Taking a long time to fall asleep, not getting enough sleep and having inconsistent bedtimes were the most common complaints.
During the study, 60 per cent of students said they needed 30 minutes or more to fall asleep and 35 per cent said they were tired during the day.
