Chronic insomnia pushing some students to limits

By Kyla Candelino


We’ve all had those restless nights where we toss and turn, but the hours still roll right on by. Imagine every single night being like this, no sleep and no rest.

Unfortunately for some students, this is a reality they face nightly.

“Insomnia pretty much ruins your life,” says senior Samantha Bourdeau.

Sam’s insomnia affects more than just her sleep. It’s the reason she says she lost her job.

“Sometimes I just don’t sleep but I still go to school,” Sam says. Sam has missed so many days this school year because of her insomnia, it almost caused her to fail 12th grade.

“It makes you lose all your motivation,” she says.

Insomnia even pokes a hole in her social life. “It’s to the point where when I get home I don’t even want to hang out,” she says. “I just want to take a nap.”

Nurse Sullivan reports she has a daily influx of 5 to 10 students coming in asking to take naps. Most of them report having headaches, presumably from the lack of sleep. After a quick rest, the students are back up and on their way.

Exactly how many of those students have real, clinical insomnia is unknown.

Insomnia is defined as the inability to get an adequate amount or quality of sleep. It can be caused by various conditions, diseases, side effects of many medicines, and emotional distress. It can make it hard for someone to fall asleep, remain asleep, and sometimes both.

Many people experience minor forms of insomnia from things like caffeine or sugar rushes. Forming an irregular or poor sleeping habit can create a weird sleep cycle, leading to insomnia.

Sam’s insomnia started in the early fall of last year, and has persisted. She calls it stress-induced, with the pressures of senior year weighing down on her. Getting two hours of sleep per night, she feels nauseous and dizzy much of the time.

“It makes you want to legit give up on life,” she says.

Sam takes sleeping pills to help her fall asleep as well as medicine to help keep her awake. Using both is a problem: one is keeping her awake while the other is trying to put her to sleep.

Another student at the school has insomnia specifically as a side effect of a prescription drug. This sophomore, who asked not to be named, takes a stimulant medicine for her A.D.D. that incidentally keeps her awake at night, only letting her have about two to four hours of sleep. Without the A.D.D. medicine she is unable to focus in school, but with it she can’t sleep.

“It’s a bad trade-off,” she says, “It’s gotten to the point where I’ve just gotten used to it.”

To help her fall asleep, she convinces herself that as long as she’s laying down in the dark being still, it’s just as good as real sleep—or the next best thing.

Incoming freshman Tyler Bugley has been an insomniac since he was 6, getting only three to four hours of sleep per night. “It’s a pain in the butt. You always feel tired,” says Tyler.

“The worst part is trying to get to sleep and having your thoughts just race and race,” he says.

Last year, Tyler’s insomnia affected his MCAS. He ended up falling asleep during the test. “I only got one open response question done,” he recalls.

Recently Tyler has been taking over-the-counter CVS brand sleep aids to help control his insomnia, and more times then not, they work for him.

All of these insomniacs share another thing in common. They are all frequent visitors to the school nurse. Some students, like them, who see the nurse try to be sent home. Nurse Sullivan, however, sends them back to class after a short nap or rest because there is no medical need for them to be sent home.

The most common times during school for a student to feel tired or worn out are 1st period, lunch, and 7th period. Coincidentally, those happen to be the busiest times for the nurse.

Ms. Sullivan’s biggest piece of advice for a better night’s sleep: “Keep the same bed-time every night.” Another one of the most important things is to “shut the cell phone off.”

A good, acceptable bed-time for a high school student, according to Sullivan, would ideally be around 10:30 or 11 p.m.

Many students are blaming their lack of sleep on having too much homework being assigned nightly. It is true; some teachers do assign work that can feel over-the-top. However, Nurse Sullivan says, “I think it all comes down to time management,” putting that theory to bed.