News Photo by Mike Gonzalez Boys and Girls Club members walk in a line out of the facility’s gym on Friday.

ALPENA — A study conducted in 2015 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said about six out of 10 middle school students do not get enough sleep on school nights.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, middle school students need eight to nine hours of sleep.

Out of the four Alpena middle school students that The Alpena News talked with, two slept the correct amount.

Gracelyn Cody, one of the interviewed students, said she falls asleep at 10 p.m. and gets up for school at 6 a.m. with a full eight hours of rest.

“When I wake up, I’m usually just pretty lazy,” Cody said. “But then, like, when I go outside to walk to the bus, it’s cold so it wakes me up. And then I’m okay, for the first, like, four hours of school and then in fifth hour I’m pretty tired.”

Class starts at 7:25 a.m. at Thunder Bay Junior High and most of the students interviewed take the bus to school, so they need to get up earlier.

Cady Guiles, a middle schooler, said that she only gets about two hours of sleep.

“I don’t really go to bed until, like around 3 (a.m.) because I don’t get tired, so then I stay up late watching TV,” Guiles said. “I have to wake up around 5 o’clock to get ready and stuff.”

Health officials say insufficient sleep among teenagers is associated with increased risk of poor mental health, obesity, injuries, attention and behavior problems, and poor academic performance.

Guiles said that when she doesn’t get enough sleep, she gets angry.

Another middle schooler, Emilia Baker, who doesn’t get enough sleep said that her grades are affected.

“Especially in art, like, sometimes I’m just so tired and I don’t do art at all,” Baker said. “And I just sit there and I don’t want to do anything in that class. And sometimes in social studies, I’m, like, so tired I just forget what to do on homework and stuff and so I get pretty much all the answers wrong.”

Baker said she also believes her mental health is affected by the lack of sleep. She mentioned feelings of depression and that the lack of sleep builds up feelings of anxiety at night.

“I spend hours overthinking the day,” Baker said. “Like, just the simplest things like me talking to my friends. I, like, feel depressed and stuff, and most of those feelings are why I stay up.”

The only interviewed student that said they had everything balanced was Cooper Knapp, who is a part of two sports leagues at school.

“I’m usually stuck with sports, and other things, and it just makes me tired,” Knapp said. “Yesterday, I got home from my basketball and wrestling practices. Then I just ate and I went to sleep at, like, 9 or 10 p.m., then I wake up at 5:30 a.m.”

Knapp said that he’s adapted to his sleep schedule for about two years and that it’s been his routine since.

To learn more about the effects of sleep deprivation and tips for better sleep, visit the CDC’s website, cdc.gov.