Sleep Debt By: Anushka Bhatt

 

Sleep Debt

By: Anushka Bhatt II Sleep health

You’re not lazy, you’re exhausted.
Midnight scrolling stole your dreams,
lit screen humming like a lullaby
that never quite sings.

Five hours deep
and you're supposed to be brilliant.
You're supposed to smile,
even when your brain
feels like scrambled static.

Sleep isn't weak.
It's repair.
It's healing.
It’s the permission you need
to be your own sanctuary.

So close your eyes,
not because the world tells you to,
but because your body has been
writing apology notes
to your soul
since freshman year.

Works Cited:
CDC. “Teens and Sleep.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Sept. 2022, www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html.