This scenario may seem familiar. It’s 2 a.m. The faint glow of a laptop screen is the only thing keeping you awake. A half-finished problem set sits next to a computer riddled with dozens of open tabs. By the ring of the morning bell, the exhaustion will be shrugged off and repeated the very next day.

At Paly, exhaustion is commonly worn as a medal of honor. Students often exchange stories about finishing homework at 2 a.m. and surviving the week on unhealthy amounts of sleep. The less someone sleeps is often correlated with how impressive their workload seems.

As a result for students like sophomore Derek Chen, staying up isn’t explicitly forced; it’s just something he has to do.

“You can either choose to stay up late or fall behind, and most people just choose to stay up late, including me,” Chen said.

Chen said this is the basis of achievement culture at Paly: being sleep-deprived is social currency, a way to prove dedication.

A defining narrative of sleeplessness

Chen said he particularly remembers a week during his freshman year that illustrates this.

“I had four tests and I got 12 hours of sleep across four days and just survived off caffeine,” Chen said.

History teacher Katya Villalobos said these comments are not isolated and tend to repeat themselves year after year.

“I have heard students say, ‘Well, I only slept like two or three hours last night because I had to do this, I had to do this, and I had to do that,’” Villalobos said. “And when I know their schedules, it saddens me.”

However, Dr. Jennifer Martin, a clinical psychiatrist and professor of health and medicine at UCLA, said while lack of sleep among young people is not a new problem, it continues to influence how students perceive sleep today.

“I definitely hear this a lot,” Martin said. “I hear it from students now. But when I was a college student and a high school student, people thought the same way then, too. So I think we have a lot of work to do in terms of helping people understand how important it is to get a good night’s sleep.”

According to Martin, a lack of sleep is a defining narrative in places like the Bay Area.

“In really competitive environments, unfortunately, you see this both in academics and in sports, that a lot of times, students who are really competitive, have a competitive mindset, tend to trade sleep for things that they think will help them advance,” Martin said. “The unfortunate part of that is that it isn’t true.”

And a side effect of this, Chen said, is an increased dependence on drinks containing stimulants.

“Because everyone’s running so low on sleep, everyone’s constantly going to CVS to grab energy drinks,” Chen said. “That’s the only way they can stay awake during the day.”

Junior Yotam Rachman said he sees this everywhere. Rachman balances school with gymnastics practice five days a week, getting home at 9:30 p.m., doing homework until around 1 a.m. and then going to bed.

“I know a lot of people that drink energy drinks or drink coffee,” Rachman said, “More than a kid our age should be drinking, just because they’re staying up super late.”

Junior Tess Li said the thing that’s noticeable about the exhaustion among her peers is the number of kids who sleep during the school day.

“In my first and fifth periods, which are first thing in the morning, people sleep a lot,” Li said. “They have their heads down for more than 30 minutes. People aren’t even surprised because it’s kind of normal to see a couple kids in the back fully sleeping.”

She also said exhaustion isn’t limited to just a few students.

“In my 7th period math class, we have a new kid falling asleep in class every single day,” Li said.

Not everyone follows this pattern, though. Junior Raphy Leung said he has found a unique schedule that works for him.

“When I get home, I go immediately to sleep,” Leung said. “I sleep from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., then work when no one is awake to distract me and I can be super productive.”

Psychology and history teacher Christopher Farina has seen firsthand the effects of sleep deprivation in a classroom setting, but also says that some students are doing surprisingly well on getting a healthy amount of sleep.

“I do see that some kids don’t get as much sleep as they should,” Farina said. “But having anecdotally talked to different classes over different years about this, in general, I’m actually surprised by the number of students who say they do get the amount of sleep that is recommended, being around eight hours.”

Farina also said freshmen generally get enough sleep based on data he’s seen from freshman advisors.

It seems like at least freshman year, most are getting around the amount of hours of sleep that they really are recommended to be getting,” he said.

Demanding course loads lead to less rest

Rachman said the reason his peers go to sleep later is demanding course loads.

“If you’re in a lot of honors classes, which almost everybody at Paly is, they just give you so much work,” Rachman said. “Junior year, keeping up with all the work you’re given and then SAT prep and AP testing, all that stuff, is challenging.”

This effort is amplified by pressure from other students, Li said.

“When someone taking easier classes hears other people say that they were up all night studying for a test in an honors or AP class, it doesn’t make them feel good,” Li said. “Then you think, ‘Oh, why did I not have to do that?’  That snowballs into more people signing up for classes that they can’t handle, so they have to sleep late to finish all the work.”

Villalobos said students have a common blind spot.

“They see the outcome,” Villalobos said. “But they don’t see the in-between: the late nights, sacrificing time, sacrificing stuff that they may love. They just see the end game. But there’s a lot of time, lack of sleep, and other consequences that happen between that and the end. Somehow people forget that.”

Rafael Pelayo, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences specializing in sleep medicine at Stanford University, was a key player in advocating for California Senate Bill 328, mandating that high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m. He said there is a psychological reason as to why teens fall to peer-pressure like this so easily.

“When you were a younger child, you were hoping to get your parents’ approval, because attention and gifts come from your parents. So in your younger years, you really focus on getting your parents’ approval on things, and they influence you greatly,” Pelayo said. “Now that you’re a teenager, you kind of know your parents love you and have your back. So usually when you’re a teenager, you’re trying to get the approval of your peers more so than your parents.”

Pelayo said there are other behaviors commonly associated with adolescence which also come as a result of peer pressure.

“If you dress a certain way or behave a certain way, it’s because you’re trying to make your peers notice, not your parents. In fact, you’ll do things behind your parents’ back to get the approval of your peers,” Pelayo said. “As you get older, you kind of care less and less about what your peers think of you because you have your own self-worth and self-identity. So it’s this transition phase that you’re in.”

When she sees students with packed schedules, Villalobos said she asks them to reflect.

“I always counsel them: if you’re really passionate about something, then take it,” Villalobos said. “But if you’re not, then why are you doing this? Is it just because your friend is doing it, or that’s what you hear, or that’s what you think you need to do?”

Outside of coursework and peer pressure, Li said social media aggravates the problem.

“I feel like on social media, you see lots of ‘cram for a test with me,’ and time-lapses of students studying all night,” Li said. “I see that a lot. I also see how much caffeine they drink in a day, then drinking energy drinks at night, pulling all-nighters. I feel like it’s a lot of glorifying pulling all-nighters to study for a test the night before. And I feel like that’s normalized.”

And Pelayo said biological factors also play a role in teens’ sleep.

“With adolescence, there’s a natural tendency to stay up later — there’s a biological shift,” Pelayo said. “When people get older, there’s a natural shift to go to sleep earlier.”

Pelayo said human sleep patterns have evolved for group survival just like other animals have.

“Sleeping animals can be attacked at any point. If you’re sleeping, you’re vulnerable to being attacked,” Pelayo said. “But you have to sleep for biological reasons, and we’re social creatures. Somebody stays awake at night and somebody is awake early in the morning. So when people get older — say after age 50 — they tend to wake up a lot at night. It’s actually a good thing for the tribe if somebody is up at night checking on things, so it’s protective.”

But not all students stay up late because of academics. Junior Jessie Kwan used to work before school, waking up at 5:15 a.m. to work until 8:30 a.m. before driving to school. There was also a period of time where she worked after school until 8:30 p.m. or 9 p.m.

“At Paly, a lot of people think people stay up late because they’re working hard on their classes and their AP courses,” Kwan said. “But what a lot of people don’t see is that some people stay up late because they’re working jobs.”

Some of her peers who work morning or night shifts struggle to prioritize their sleep.

“They could be waking up at 5 a.m. but then sleeping at 1 a.m., so they only get four hours of sleep,” Kwan said. “They’ll just drink a Red Bull or a Monster to wake up.”

Kwan said she understands the struggle.

“If you have a job, and you go to school, and then you have sports practice afterwards, staying up late is a combination of trying to balance all of these,” Kwan said. “It’s really hard when you have tests, and you still have practice and work, and you’re tired, and you want to go to sleep. It’s definitely not talked about enough when people mention staying up late.”

Regardless of why people don’t get enough sleep, Rachman said when staying up late, he feels far less productive.

“I think after 1 a.m., I can’t get any more work into me,” Rachman said. “I’ve already overworked my brain, and I’m just clocked out anyway, unless it’s really mindless work. I can’t actually focus anymore.”

Studies confirm Rachman’s experience. According to the National Library of Medicine, when subjects were 35 hours sleep-deprived, memory declined and letter grades dropped two letters, significantly worse than their counterparts who got sufficient sleep.

Dr. Mary Carskadon, professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University said what young people need to do is reframe the narrative on sleep deprivation.

“Less sleep does not equal more time, because your time is used so inefficiently when you’re sleepy and tired,” Carskadon said. “It doesn’t make for good work or productive work. We’ve heard this again and again and again and again, and we don’t hear the alternative as a popular point of view. We don’t hear ‘Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.’”

With this in mind, Martin said not all students go to sleep late for the same reasons.

“The motivations for not getting enough sleep are different,” Martin said. “For example, kids who are from low income families may not be able to get enough sleep because they have to work after school.”

Sleep deprivation leads to health consequences

While the reasons for teen sleep deprivation may vary, there are a myriad of unintended health consequences as a result, according to health officials.

“When teenagers don’t get enough sleep, they miss more school,” Martin said. “Not getting enough sleep compromises your immune system, so you get sick more. (Sleep-deprived people) also tend to reach for very unhealthy food choices. Nobody is studying at 2 a.m. and eating a salad.”

Carskadon also said the consequences of a lack of sleep include a decrease in happiness.

“It’s harder to engage with the good parts of life,” Carskadon said. “It’s easier to do what we call self-harmful ruminations. So you think about the negative things about yourself, instead of thinking about all the positives that are there in your life.”

Kwan, though, thinks the relationship is more complex.

“I think for many people who sleep less, I don’t think it’s a direct causation between less sleep and feeling negative about themselves, but I think many people who sleep less are oftentimes stressed and feel a lot of pressure, and that’s why they already feel very negative about themselves. Sleeping less can exacerbate negative feelings towards themselves.”

Regardless, Martin said the negative consequences can become increasingly severe and even life threatening if sacrificing sleep is consistent.

“Not getting enough sleep on a chronic basis is associated with a depressed mood,” Martin said.

Effective time management can help

Despite the fact that many students know they should sleep more, some say they reject the notion that sleeping more is associated with academic success. Chen said there is a balance.

“Of course you want to go to sleep, but then you might wake up after sleeping eight hours, have no work done, and three tests that you haven’t studied for,” Chen said. “You kind of just have to consider: OK, do I want to sacrifice my sleep, or do I want to not get an ‘F’?”

And Leung pushes back on the idea that sleeping less signals dedication.

“I can see it may be perceived that way, but in reality, you’re really just not managing your time correctly,” he said.

For Kwan, she said she has found a way to prioritize sleep even when working a job.

“I try to make sure I get at least eight hours because I cannot function otherwise,” Kwan said. “I try not to rely on energy drinks. I try to finish my work during class when there’s extra time. I also have prep, so I try to finish my work during prep as well. Honestly, any time I have a little free time, I make sure to utilize it to get stuff done because I really do want enough sleep.”

But Chen said he still feels trapped.

“Everyone is striving to get into a good college,” Chen said. “Most people definitely know the harms, but they just choose to stay up late.”

Pelayo offered an analogy for students who think they can function on minimal sleep.

“If you have a sports car, the manufacturer recommends high-octane gas — the more expensive gas,” Pelayo said. “But the car could get by with cheaper gas. And if you’re stuck on the highway all day, nobody can tell the difference. But if you go to the racetrack and look for the full performance of the car, you’ll see that the higher-octane gas makes that same car perform better. The question to you and your peers is: How competitive an environment do you expect to be in the future? Is the goal to get by, or is the goal to be at your optimal best?”

Moreover, staying up late doesn’t necessarily mean a higher GPA. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found just the opposite. This study showed better quality, longer duration and greater consistency of sleep were directly associated with better grades.

Pelayo said high school is only a small part of life and the idea that sacrificing sleep now will lead to an easier future is misleading.

“It’s a myth to think of it as ‘I’m going to work hard in high school, and then my life will be easy afterwards, because, if anything, most adults will look back at high school as an ideal time where there was less pressure on their lives,” Pelayo said. “Life is going to get more complicated. So another question is: How do you learn your real life lessons? Not by trying to get less sleep. You’ll find that the more you get healthier sleep, you’re going to have a healthier life.”

And Leung said some of his friends have discovered the importance of healthy sleep.

“Surprisingly, in junior year, some of my friends are actually sleeping at more normal hours, because they realize they need to have the energy to go through the school day,” Leung said.

Carskadon also said staying up later to take more AP classes and balance lots of extracurriculars doesn’t make you a better person.

“All of these things will tend to add up and subtract from your ability to be the best person that you can be,” Carskadon said.

Villalobos said she hopes students recognize the power good sleep has.

“We know that sleep is one of the greatest medicines for human beings,” Villalobos said. “It can relieve stress. It helps you lose weight. It helps you think. It helps you keep focus. It helps you do the things you want to do.”

But at the end of the day, Li said efficient time management should be getting more praise.

“I feel like it’s more of a flex to be able to balance my schedule and still sleep enough,” Li said. “Staying up late isn’t something to brag about. It should be the other way around. It should be like, ‘I was able to do all my work efficiently and sleep early last night.’”