People needed to adjust their clocks, losing an hour’s sleep just days ago. Times like this bring a heightened awareness to sleep. One angle that needs strong consideration is how students’ lack of sleep directly affects their grades.
Even without a time change, balancing school, sports, relationships, chores, and free time can be hard. Especially when all of these responsibilities interfere with a student’s sleep schedule.
Sophomore, Leah Fithian, said, “My sleep schedule isn’t the greatest as I find myself waking up tired every morning.”
According to nationwidechidren’s.org, “The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep).”
The real question is though, does getting enough sleep matter when it comes to grades?
According to Georgia Tech Wellness Empowerment Center, students who struggle with sleep are more likely to receive poor grades in math, reading, and writing classes than students who have the proper sleep schedule.
This could mean that students with sleep problems are struggling with grades, and staying awake in class creates problems for teachers. As Mr. Dana Altobeli, a well-respected history teacher at Oakmont Regional High School, stated, “Naturally it is harder to work with sleepy students; they are typically unfocused and grumpy. Part of the challenge of teaching is keeping the class moving at a sufficient clip and structured in such a way as to keep students engaged.”
This can take away from the learning experience, causing students to fall behind in class and create conflict between the student and teacher dynamic.
Atobeli’s dynamic was something a lot of teachers could relate to, as he expressed how fortunate he is that rarely students fall asleep in his class, when they do, it’s usually the first class of the day. If this happens frequently, he talks to the students to find out they are going to bed at 2-3 in the morning and email home. Usually, Altobeli lets his students sleep in class if they are that tired, but he still talks to them when they wake up.
Not only can this impact a teacher-student dynamic, but according to nationwidechildrens.org, not getting a good night’s rest results in issues with attention, memory, decision-making, reaction time, and creativity, all of which impact student’s school life. Teenagers who get less sleep are more likely to get poor grades, fall asleep in school, and have tardies/absences.
Mrs. Jessica Heffernan, Oakmont’s school nurse, gave insightful information into how students tend to have a very busy schedule with sports, clubs, and more. This can lead students to come home exhausted and end up taking a 3-hour nap, or deciding to have caffeine. This may help temporarily, but in reality, the students tend to stay up way past their bedtime and fall into this never-ending, exhausting schedule.
Fortunately, there is a way to fix this never-ending schedule, just taking a simple 15-20 min afternoon nap can be beneficial. Or, before going to bed, try to stay away from screens. Try your best to avoid caffeine and oversleeping on the weekends. As well as gradually setting earlier bedtimes, and setting a schedule allowing yourself to get 7-9 hours every night. These straightforward and effortless steps will ensure you have a better sleep schedule.
Night owl, Nadalee Madhere, discussed how she tends to sleep better when she avoids her screens and sets an earlier bedtime.
A good sleep schedule is guaranteed to have a good impact on students. The impacts can be as small as improving the ability to learn new information, reduce stress, improve moods, improve memory, and improve the ability to retain and recall. These are just a few impacts good sleep can have on students. All of these small impacts come back full circle to students making them energized, vigilantly focused, and problem-solving creatively.
Getting good sleep should be a huge priority, especially for students. Student’s grades depend on it.
