O-Level Summary Practice 2: Teenage Sleep
This page gives you a longer summary drill on a health topic. The exam asks for about 80 words, so this 120-word version gives you room to practise finding points first. Read it twice, mark the points, then write from your notes.
The passage
Ask any secondary school teacher about first period and the answer is the same. It is a battle against drooping eyelids. Doctors advise that teenagers sleep eight to ten hours a night, yet most students manage fewer than seven on school nights. The shortfall begins with biology.
During adolescence, the body clock drifts later by as much as two hours. Melatonin, the hormone that brings on sleep, is released well past 11 at night. A 14-year-old lying in the dark at 10 feels wide awake, and no amount of scolding will shift the hormone. Only in early adulthood does the clock drift back.
Modern life then piles onto this shifted clock. Homework stacks up, and activities and tuition can end only in the early evening, so revision squeezes into the late hours. School starts early, which cuts the morning short and leaves no room to recover the lost hours. The phone lights up beside the pillow. Its blue light holds back melatonin even longer, and each notification pulls the mind back towards schoolwork, gossip or games. Add a bubble tea or a coffee after school, and the caffeine can still be working at midnight.
The cost is paid the next morning. A sleepy student stares at the whiteboard but takes in little, because attention fades in and out. Sleep is also when the brain files away what was learnt that day. Cut it short, and yesterday's lesson never properly settles into memory.
The damage reaches further than grades. Short sleepers snap at friends and family over small things, and long-term studies link ongoing sleep loss with anxiety and low mood. The body suffers quietly too. Growth hormone is released during deep sleep, so teenagers who miss it give up some of the growth they need. Their immune defences weaken, weight creeps up, and colds pass around the classroom faster.
There is a safety cost as well. Reaction times slow without enough sleep. A slow reaction matters at a pedestrian crossing, and tired players pick up most sports injuries late in the session.
Experts advise regular bedtimes, dim screens after a set hour and no caffeine in the evening. The advice helps, but it asks teenagers to fight both their own biology and their timetables. That is why the problem survives every new school year.
The task
Summarise, in no more than 120 words, why teenagers sleep too little AND what this lack of sleep does to them. Use your own words as far as possible.
✍️ Your turn
Use ONLY the passage above. Write 1 paragraph of no more than 120 words on why teenagers sleep too little AND what this lack of sleep does to them. Put everything in your own words as far as possible. Aim for 110 to 120 words.
Reveal the content points
A strong summary captures all 10 of these points.
Why teenagers sleep too little
- The teenage body clock drifts later, and melatonin flows late into the night.
- Homework, activities and tuition push bedtime into the late hours.
- School starts early, so the lost hours cannot be recovered in the morning.
- Phone light holds back the sleep hormone, and notifications keep pulling at attention.
- Caffeine taken after school can still work at midnight.
What the lack of sleep does
- Attention fades, and the brain fails to store the day's learning.
- Sleep loss brings irritability and links with anxiety and low mood.
- Less deep sleep means less growth hormone, so growth suffers.
- Immunity weakens, weight rises and illness spreads faster.
- Slower reactions are risky at crossings. Tired players pick up most sports injuries late in a session.
Reveal the model answer
Teenagers sleep too little because their body clocks drift later in adolescence, so melatonin flows late into the night and they stay awake in bed. Homework, activities and tuition push bedtime into the late hours, while early school start times leave no room to recover. Phone light holds back the sleep hormone, notifications keep pulling at attention, and caffeine taken after school still works at midnight. The shortage weakens attention and stops the brain storing new learning. It damages mood, bringing irritability, anxiety and low spirits. Deep sleep releases growth hormone, so missing it slows growth, weakens immunity and lets weight rise. Slower reaction times also raise the risk of accidents on roads and in sport.
116 words.
What the model leaves out
The model drops the eight-to-ten-hour advice and the seven-hour statistic. They set the scene, but they give no cause and no effect. It drops the advice on bedtimes and screens, because the question asks for causes and effects, not solutions. It also drops the line about the clock drifting back in adulthood. None of these would earn a mark under this focus, so the saved words go to points.
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