School is an important part of your early life.
It takes up a good part of your day, and even when it’s over, you often find yourself having to do school-related things.
If you need to take a nap after school, then you may wonder why you always feel tired after school.
From long hours to boring subjects, here are 10 reasons school is tiring.
Why Is School So Tiring? (10 Reasons)
1. Long Hours
Going to school takes all day.
Many students have to wake up around 6 AM, if not earlier, to get ready for school, then catch the bus.
School then lasts until 3 or 4 PM.
That means students basically operate on an eight-hour rotation, too.
They’re just as tired as adults are when they come home from work.
Unlike adults, however, students also have mandatory activities and homework that they need to complete when they get home.
School also has few breaks.
It’s eight hours of practically non-stop learning.
That’s exhausting in itself.
While they attend school, students have to pay attention in each class.
Their brains get quite the workout.
Then there’s usually some form of physical activity involved, too.
Some students may need to attend gym classes or participate in some sports.
Others may get exercise by playing outside during recess.
As such, school as a whole exhausts students both mentally and physically.
Students may not experience as much exhaustion if the school day were shorter.
For example, if students only had a few classes each day, rather than all of them, then they might start retaining that information better.
Of course, that leads to the problem of having students at home alone.
The current school hours make it possible for students to be home alone only for an hour or two for most parents who work 9-to-5 jobs.
To change school hours, some families would have to greatly alter their work schedules to ensure they can have dinner ready for their children, and that they got home safely.
Until then, school will remain tiring because it lasts such a long time.
2. Homework
If the process of going to school and its length weren’t enough, then homework can make a student feel even more tired.
After spending hours at school, students don’t get to go home and relax.
Instead, they have to work on homework that their teachers assigned to them.
Homework can take as little as a few minutes to complete to several hours.
If the student has a lot of homework from different classes, it might even take them four or five hours to finish it all.
That’s practically half a school day in itself.
Homework is a necessary part of many school curricula.
It helps reinforce the information that students learned earlier in the day.
It might also prepare them for the lecture the next day.
When homework takes longer than an hour to do, however, it tires students out even further.
This becomes a problem because it brings into question how much a student retains when they’re exhausted.
The mind can only memorize so much before needing a break.
Students go from a long day at school to a long day at the table doing homework.
If they have special projects, then it can make their homework last even longer.
This then takes up the valuable time they need to rest after school.
Rest is an important part of education because it helps solidify the memory of information that the student learned earlier that day.
It also keeps students from experiencing burnout which can also impact how much they’re able to learn.
Students feel that school is tiring because of all the homework they need to do after a long day at school.
3. School Clubs Or Sports
Another reason that school is tiring is the fact that many students end up participating in different clubs or sports.
Those activities can last as little as an hour or end up lasting for several hours.
Clubs, for example, may only meet for an hour or two after school.
Even that can be exhausting for a student who had a trying day at school.
Clubs that are simply groups of kids who enjoy a certain activity together aren’t always strenuous.
Participating still requires energy, though.
Other clubs, like a debate club, science club, or equestrian club, often require the student to remain active.
Debate club, for example, requires that the student remain sharp.
They have to think rationally and logically to hold a debate.
That takes a lot of mental energy.
The same goes for the science club.
An equestrian club might include visits to a local stable where the club members ride on horses.
That’s physical energy that they’re expending by being part of that club.
Larger clubs, like theatre, choir, and band, may last even longer.
Since those also tend to be classes, club members may have to take time outside of school to participate in the club.
For example, the theatre club might put on different shows than the theatre class.
Club members spend a lot of time and energy rehearsing, building sets, and practicing their lines.
Sports is a whole different energy sponge.
Athletes have to spend hours training.
It might be building their strength in a gym or perfecting their skills on the football field.
Sports take up a good amount of a student’s time because they need to train and then also play the game.
All these take place when a student should be resting instead.
School is tiring because students end up participating in clubs or sports that further reduce their time to rest.
4. Boring Subjects
A student isn’t going to enjoy every subject or class.
Some students may thrive in math classes but perform poorly in English classes.
The opposite may also be true.
Even if a student understands the subject, they may not find it enjoyable.
When a student finds a class boring, it can make them feel tired.
There are a few reasons certain classes make some students feel tired.
For one, they’re not engaged with the material.
Students who find a class boring aren’t going to find the subject engaging enough to pay attention to.
It may feel as though time is dragging on during that class.
As a result, they feel more tired because it feels as though time is lasting longer.
Secondly, it means they’re probably not taking in the information as efficiently as they could be if they actually enjoyed the subject.
This makes a student feel tired because they have to put more effort into understanding the material later.
Finally, everyone just tends to feel tired when they’re forced to listen to or watch something they deem boring.
Since it doesn’t stimulate the mind, the brain almost goes into a sort of rest mode.
When the class ends, you have to force yourself out of that rest mode which may not always be easy to do.
You may find school tiring because you find a certain class particularly boring.
5. Process Of Learning
The very process of learning is an exhausting one.
To learn new things, the brain has to spend energy creating neural pathways.
You have to focus or else you miss something crucial that’s key to understanding what the teacher is trying to tell you.
The problem with how the mind learns is that it’s a very energy-dependent process.
Even worse, your mind remains engaged with that process for eight or so hours straight.
That’s extremely taxing on your brain.
If you have other things that you need to do outside of school, then you’re not giving your brain enough time to rest and recover after all the learning that it did.
As a result, you wake up feeling tired, too, because your brain hasn’t rested enough.
Certain subjects might also be tougher for you to grasp than others.
If that’s the case, then your brain needs to use even more energy and focus to try and make sense of it.
That’s why you might feel more tired on some days with challenging classes than on other days with easier classes.
School can feel tiring because of the way that the brain learns new things.
6. Socializing
While going to school is all about learning, there’s also a heavy amount of socializing that goes on.
You often find yourself socializing with the teacher.
The teacher might ask about your day.
At the very least, you’re engaging with your teacher during the lecture.
There are also your classmates.
You may need to work in groups to complete a worksheet or project.
It requires you all to work together.
There’s also socializing with your friends.
Whether you spend time with them before school, during class, at recess, or after school, you probably spend time speaking with your friends.
Then there’s socializing with strangers in your school, too.
You may encounter students you don’t talk to that much in the bathroom or at lunch.
All this socializing takes a lot of energy.
Some people can handle it better than others.
In high school, in particular, students can start to figure out if they’re introverts or extroverts.
Introverts tend to feel more exhausted after social encounters while extroverts tend to feel more energized.
While everyone likely feels tired after a lot of socializing all day, some students who identify with introversion may feel more tired than others.
Socializing doesn’t always stop after school either.
Even simply hanging out with friends can be exhausting.
You may decide to go to the movies or take a walk around the neighborhood.
You’re expending more mental and physical energy that way.
You may need to participate in a club or sport.
That’s more social energy you’re using.
Since socializing takes energy, too, you may find it difficult to get enough rest to stop feeling so tired after school.
School is tiring because of all the socializing that happens within it and outside of it.
7. Employment
Some students aren’t able to immediately go home and relax.
Some have parents who need them to work to help provide for the family.
High schoolers can get jobs in restaurants, retail, and in several other industries.
While there are some regulations in place since students aren’t legal adults yet, many high school students end up working a good number of hours each week.
A student who also works a job is going to find school tiring because they have even less time to relax after school.
They have to go directly to work and be active for a few more hours.
If they’re unable to do homework at work, then that’s something they’ll need to do once their shift is over.
That, alone, could add even more hours to their day before they’re able to rest.
It could also cut into their sleep.
Instead of getting at least eight hours of sleep, the student might only be able to get four.
That can greatly impact how tired they feel.
The same problem occurs if the student is involved in sports.
They have to attend school, go to work, and when they’re off work, they either need to train or play their sport.
That leaves little time for anything else.
A student may feel that they need to cut back on their sleeping hours to fit other things into their schedule.
School can feel tiring when the student also works a job.
8. Lots Of Pressure
Students are under immense pressure during their school years.
There’s pressure to perform well and get good grades.
Students are pressured to date certain people among their peers.
There’s pressure to take part in activities outside of the school to improve one’s college resume.
Students are under constant stressors and pressure.
Parents can make this even worse if they have high expectations for their children.
A student may find themselves needing to work their fingers to the bone to satisfy all the pressure that they’re feeling.
If their parents have high expectations of them regarding their grades, then the student might be up late at night studying.
If the expectations have to do with athletic performance, then the student might train more and longer to improve their skills and fitness.
Even hanging out with friends can be something that a person feels pressured about.
Feeling pressured is an exhausting experience.
It makes you feel as though you’re in fight or flight mode because you have to do everything quickly to satisfy everyone.
This can make you feel even more tired than you are because it means you’re expending more energy through worrying and feeling stressed.
You may find that school feels tiring because of all the pressure on your shoulders.
9. Short Recovery Period
A problem with school is that it gives its students very little rest time.
You only have a few minutes after each class to get to the next one.
Students use that time to put away books, get new books, and then travel to class.
They’re unable to spend that time briefly closing their eyes and relaxing.
Lunch is also usually only a half hour or an hour.
The same goes for recess.
It typically only lasts a quarter to a half hour.
During that time, students are expected to relax.
Most students end up using it to study or chat with friends.
That doesn’t exactly give them the rest that they need.
Even the few hours after school isn’t enough time for students to rest properly.
Since students are unable to get a long enough rest period, their exhaustion keeps compounding.
As a result, school feels extremely tiring.
10. Advanced Courses Workload
A final reason school can feel tiring is when you take an advanced course.
Workloads, in general, can make school feel tiring.
Advanced courses take it to a whole new level.
Many advanced courses aim to prepare you for college.
They cover harder subjects and move a bit faster.
They want to prepare you for the kind of pace you can expect in college.
That also means you usually go home with more homework and projects.
You have to learn things extra fast.
Because advanced classes have larger workloads, you’ll feel that school is quite tiring with the more advanced classes that you have.
School is tiring when you have a large workload thanks to your advanced course.
Conclusion
School is an exhausting part of every student’s life.
Whether it’s due to the length of time that school takes or socializing, there are several ways that school aims to exhaust you.
Knowing the reasons can help you make a plan to ensure you’re able to get the rest you need to find school not quite as tiring as before.
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