The large amount of schoolwork assigned by teachers can negatively affect the health of students. Homework and projects added on to seven hours of school can lead to anxiety, lack of sleep, and other health problems. 

According to Nationwide Children’s, the average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between seven and seven and a half hours, while the amount recommended by physicians get is between nine and nine and a half.

Many students have to stay up late to get all of their work completed. Lack of sleep can lead to many negative effects. Students who don’t sleep early can become moody and irritable. They often become frustrated or upset more easily. Inadequate sleep results in problems with attention and memory. This leads to poor academic performance. Indirectly, assigning too much work for students can cause their own grades to plummet. Sometimes, a lot of work hurts students’ grades rather than helps them. 

Students often have sports, clubs, or other activities after school, so the addition of homework sometimes makes the load unbearable. If a student wants to join many sports teams and clubs, they do this at the expense of their grades. On the other end of the spectrum, if a student wants to focus on their grades, they often do so at the expense of the experience of extracurricular activities. Students who spend too much time on homework are not always able to be socially and physically active. Extracurricular activities give students a chance to refresh their minds and relax a little. Students cannot relax and have fun if they are constantly swamped by work. For older students, the problem of having too much to do may become worse if they have jobs to worry about too. 

Finding a way to juggle all of this work can be very tricky, and many people struggle with this problem. More often than not, this makes the students feel overwhelmed and stressed. According to a study by Stanford University, 56% of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Chronic stress can lead to serious symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, depression, headaches, and insomnia. Other symptoms include rapid breathing, increased heart rate, and high blood pressure. Too much stress can seriously impair a student’s ability to function properly.  

Probably one of the biggest problems with assigning too much work is that the students will tend to be unmotivated. Instead of working diligently on one project, a student usually has to divide their time to produce multiple works. Instead of making one high quality project, they make multiple mediocre ones. Too much work can also result in less active learning. The student becomes detached from whatever they are studying and treats it just like a job. They are no longer learning; they are going through the motions. Active learning promotes the analysis and application of content learned in class to the real world. However, students lose this ability if assigned loads of unnecessary work. The work loses its meaning and purpose if the students have nothing to take away from it. 

An important aspect to consider is that work is not inherently bad. Like everything, it is only effective in moderation. Homework allows students to expand on what they learned in class. Projects such as posters enable students to use a cross between artistic and academic activities. A good amount of work stimulates the brain, while too much work tires it. Assigning a reasonable amount of work will help the students’ attitude which will lead to more success.