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Maybe I'm too much of a cynic, but this is such a first-world problem... While the extra hour may seem like a lot, the quote from the teenager featured as the "

Maybe I'm too much of a cynic, but this is such a first-world problem... While the extra hour may seem like a lot, the quote from the teenager featured as the "sleep activist" really strikes me how poorly our society sets up priorities - "“I thought, if that happens, I will die,” recalled Jilly, 17. “I will drop out of school!”". Really?! This is how much value you place on your education and your future life that an extra 30 minutes a day can prompt you to throw it all away? Growing up fairly privileged in a USSR military family I myself have seen relatively few hard times (country collapses are rarely fun...), but my Grandfather's stories of having to carve math equations out on logs with a knife so he could do his homework because post WWII paper and pencils were in very short supply... He constantly emphasized how much he had to fight for his education and it seared in my brain that I must succeed. Dropping out was never an option I would even consider. At 17, I managed to work full time, graduate from high school and start at a university, and have so much fun that I keep worrying some odd photo will surface that I have no memory of... Yes, I did not sleep as much as I wanted, but I have no regrets about how I lived life or do now.

kiba 13y ago
Because a good night sleep is crucial to better performance in school, workplace and life in general. For dangerous jobs, the stake are much higher. It can mean the difference between death or a really a close dangerous incident.
- scott_s 13y ago
  I recall reading in "Black Hawk Down" that the helicopter pilots - and only them - got to sleep in air conditioned trailers. Piloting a helicopter is so dangerous, and the conditions in which they were doing it even more so, and so many lives were routinely at stake, that making sure the pilots got a good night's sleep was worth it. Everyone's job was dangerous, of course, but the reaction time of a well-rested versus a not well-rested pilot could mean the difference between a dozen deaths or a routine day.
  - sologoub 13y ago
    So now we are comparing high school to piloting helicopters in a war zone?
    - scott_s 13y ago
      I was responding directly to the parent poster's comment about dangerous jobs. But everything is on a spectrum. If we acknowledge that something is important in the extreme case, it's worth thinking about how important it is in less extreme cases.
nathanvanfleet 13y ago
the "First world problem" meme is kind of aggravating. So we can't optimize our lifestyle anymore because there are people starving in Africa? How could we have taken the time it took to analyze that and somehow helped the third world? A 17 year old is having trouble for possibly legitimate reasons, and he shouldn't be listened to because there are worms that can grow in your skin if you walk in tepid pools in Africa? As someone who had sleep apnea for several years I can tell you that an extra half hour of sleep means a lot to you. And the sleep deprivation caused me to suffer a lot and really ran my brain capacity down to a nub. So if you really want to have children dedicate a decade or more to mental training you should listen to their feedback about what is hindering them.
scott_s 13y ago
I think it's worth keeping in mind that 17-year-olds tend to speak in hyperbole.
quesera 13y ago
> my Grandfather's stories of having to carve math equations out on logs with a knife so he could do his homework because post WWII paper and pencils were in very short supply... Umm. Did you believe him? My grandfather used to walk 10 miles each way to get to school. With no shoes. In the snow. Uphill. Both ways. [ObCulturalExplanation: above is the standard American clichéd hyperbolic of the clichéd "kids-these-days" rant delivered by ancestral males to teenagers. Maybe in the CCCP, they really did carve homework into logs and bring them into class the next day. I certainly don't know.]
- sologoub 13y ago
  Actually I did. I visited the village he grew up in... I was shocked to see clean water. Russia may be industrialized, but the wealth doesn't filter down as evenly as here. Also, remember that was 1940s when most of the country lay in ruins.

kiba 13y ago

Because a good night sleep is crucial to better performance in school, workplace and life in general. For dangerous jobs, the stake are much higher. It can mean the difference between death or a really a close dangerous incident.

scott_s 13y ago
I recall reading in "Black Hawk Down" that the helicopter pilots - and only them - got to sleep in air conditioned trailers. Piloting a helicopter is so dangerous, and the conditions in which they were doing it even more so, and so many lives were routinely at stake, that making sure the pilots got a good night's sleep was worth it. Everyone's job was dangerous, of course, but the reaction time of a well-rested versus a not well-rested pilot could mean the difference between a dozen deaths or a routine day.
- sologoub 13y ago
  So now we are comparing high school to piloting helicopters in a war zone?
  - scott_s 13y ago
    I was responding directly to the parent poster's comment about dangerous jobs. But everything is on a spectrum. If we acknowledge that something is important in the extreme case, it's worth thinking about how important it is in less extreme cases.

nathanvanfleet 13y ago

the "First world problem" meme is kind of aggravating. So we can't optimize our lifestyle anymore because there are people starving in Africa? How could we have taken the time it took to analyze that and somehow helped the third world? A 17 year old is having trouble for possibly legitimate reasons, and he shouldn't be listened to because there are worms that can grow in your skin if you walk in tepid pools in Africa? As someone who had sleep apnea for several years I can tell you that an extra half hour of sleep means a lot to you. And the sleep deprivation caused me to suffer a lot and really ran my brain capacity down to a nub. So if you really want to have children dedicate a decade or more to mental training you should listen to their feedback about what is hindering them.

scott_s 13y ago

I think it's worth keeping in mind that 17-year-olds tend to speak in hyperbole.

quesera 13y ago

> my Grandfather's stories of having to carve math equations out on logs with a knife so he could do his homework because post WWII paper and pencils were in very short supply... Umm. Did you believe him? My grandfather used to walk 10 miles each way to get to school. With no shoes. In the snow. Uphill. Both ways. [ObCulturalExplanation: above is the standard American clichéd hyperbolic of the clichéd "kids-these-days" rant delivered by ancestral males to teenagers. Maybe in the CCCP, they really did carve homework into logs and bring them into class the next day. I certainly don't know.]

sologoub 13y ago
Actually I did. I visited the village he grew up in... I was shocked to see clean water. Russia may be industrialized, but the wealth doesn't filter down as evenly as here. Also, remember that was 1940s when most of the country lay in ruins.