• Question: Can school destroy your sleep pattern

    Asked by anon-189305 to Yousef, Rachel, Petrina, Michael, Jason, Emma on 15 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Rachel Sharman

      Rachel Sharman answered on 15 Nov 2018:


      Great question and a tricky answer!

      School is great and creating a stable sleep pattern. We should try to wake up at roughly the same time every day and go to bed at roughly the same time. I always say to my patients/participants that an hour wiggle room is ok on weekends.

      The problem with the school pattern is it doesnt seem to fit the teenagers body clock. At puberty our body clock delays 1-3hrs. A test at 9am for you is like a test at 6am for me, I know for certain I would do pretty rubbish at that time. You need 8-10hrs to bet at your best. But heading to bed at 10:30pm in real time may be like 7:30pm in your body clock time. So you are probably going to find it difficult to sleep.

      Ive just finished studying the sleep of 1500 year 10 students in 10 UK schools. We found that the teens are only really getting 7hrs on a school night. Studies have shown that if you can get teens an hour more sleep they get one whole grade better in their exams, they have less arguments at home, and can concentrate better in school. Studies on young athletes has shown it improves their sport performance too!

      So, for my research, the problem I have to solve is: teens are tired in the morning, school starts at 9am, teens find it hard to sleep early, teens arent sleeping enough. We have tried going into schools and teaching teachers to teach sleep lessons. That worked for some teens. Our next study, which we are just applying for money for, is to see of the school timetable needs to change or if we can change the school environment.

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