With more than 70 majors offered at Waynesburg University, students have the option to major in unique courses of study ranging from music ministry to biochemistry. Though there may be vast differences in curriculum between students in different programs, one commonality remains; the daily, never-ending quest to get sleep.

A student’s consistent effort to get to bed or squeeze in a nap between classes and meetings isn’t based on laziness or sluggishness, but rather their biology, according to Dr. Michele Karpathian, professor of psychology, as well as countless studies researching the sleep of mature adolescents.

“The more reading I did into sleep and its impact on students for my wellness class, the more I thought to myself ‘There is something to this’,” Karpathian said.

The solution isn’t quite as simple as students going to bed earlier, according to Karpathian, who has studied the sleep journals of students in her wellness class for nine years.

Within these journals where students log their sleeping habits, Karpathian has seen students note that they are unable to get to bed due a variety of largely unavoidable reasons, including socializing with friends, studying, homework and working a job.

Teens and late adolescents naturally produce melatonin, the hormone that helps put the body to sleep, at a later time at night compared to adults, making it harder to fall asleep early, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Addressed as a “public health issue” by the official website of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 87 percent of students enrolled in high school are getting less than the 8.5 recommended hours of sleep per night. According to AAP, those who receive proper sleep are, “less likely to be involved in automobile accidents, have better grades… and an overall better quality of life”.

As it is becoming more common nation-wide for high schools to push back their start times to better suit their students, it has already impacted higher education, with Lake Superior State University in Michigan eliminating 8 a.m. classes.

“If we really want to keep our adolescents healthy…,” Karpathian said. “I think we should get rid of all of the 8 o’clock classes.”

According to Brian Carr, director of the center for student success and disability services, through his numerous years analyzing student schedules and academic performance, he sees no direct correlation between 8 a.m. classes and a lower overall grade in the class.

“I am not one to ever say that we shouldn’t do something like this [removing 8 a.m. classes],” Carr said. “I just want more concrete evidence saying that this is a good thing for our students.”

In fact, upon researching overall academic performance compared between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. class sections with the same professor, Carr actually found that the 8 a.m. section tended to outperform the second section.

“From my own observations and analytics, I have never seen anything indicating that 8 a.m. classes have a negative impact on grades,” Carr said.

Both Carr and Karpathian have hesitations about the impact abolishing 8 a.m. classes would have on scheduling, both for faculty fitting classes into other time slots and for extracurricular practices.

“It isn’t as easy as removing [8 a.m. classes],” Carr said. “There are a lot of factors that go into that.”

Carr went on to explain that “tightening up” the class times by removing 8 a.m. classes would restrict or hinder available time for athletic practices and lab sciences, as well as cause a ripple effect of other potential scheduling issues for both students and faculty.

Though balancing classwork, extracurricular activities, socializing and getting the recommended amount of sleep is inarguably a daunting task, it’s necessary to attempt.

“I really do think that sleep is a vital part of successfully navigating life,” Carr said. “If we’re not getting adequate sleep, I think it really can have an impact on other areas of our lives.”