There are three main elements in a teenager’s life triangle: social life, school and sleep. At times, we prioritize one vertex over another. It is impossible to balance all three elements at the same time, but a balanced lifestyle can be attained by managing priorities well.

Many people believe that this ideal balanced triangle life is near impossible to attain, but this is definitely not true. Since day one of freshman year, I have been getting an average of seven hours of sleep every day. I have maintained my grades and I also have had a decent social life over the past four years.

Every weekday, I stay away from the TV and minimize my use of social media, so I don’t completely isolate myself for 120 hours, but I minimize the need to stay active socially by occupying myself in my studies. I do, however, spend some time on social media to catch up on news and to take a break from academics.

During the week, my top priorities are homework and the occasional test to study for on my list. Everything else, including socializing, doesn’t matter.

On the weekends, however, I take full advantage of the extra hours that would otherwise be spent on classroom instruction. I use the weekends to catch up on my social life by going to family parties or by meeting up with friends. 

Some weeks, I don’t have very many tests, so I make sure to get a significant amount of sleep. Other weeks, my focus is on an upcoming test. In that case, however, the last thing I would do is replace my sleeping hours with cramming. I have been told that sleep is important, especially before a test.

A study conducted by UCLA concluded that teens who stay up late cramming are more likely to have academic problems the following day.

The scientists studied two groups of freshmen, sophomores and seniors for two weeks. The teens were required to record amount of sleep received and any academic challenges the following day. Again, they found that teens who did not receive an adequate amount of sleep faced challenges such as not being able to understand new material and performing poorly on a test or quiz.

In my day, about eight hours are dedicated to sleep, eight are dedicated to school and the rest of the time is for studying, extracurriculars and other daily tasks. This is what makes my life perfectly balanced, and I urge my peers to adjust their schedule so they can experience this balance as well.

There are 24 hours in a day. It is how those hours are spent by teens that determines the type of life they will lead.