If students’ health is said to be a top priority, then why does no one seem to bat an eye when students fall asleep in class? According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, preschool students require 10 to 13 hours of sleep a day. Considering that preschool students get naptime during their school day, why don’t high school students, who require eight to 10 hours of sleep, get the same?
Dos Pueblos has many different specialty seminars, including gardening, long sword dueling, and fiber arts. A naptime seminar would likely benefit many students and their performance in their classes. A Pub Med study explains that naps can reduce tiredness for long periods of time as well as improve cognitive performance.
On the days when school starts at 8:30 a.m., the average student wakes up before 7:30 a.m. Additionally, with tutoring, extracurricular activities, and sports, students are often kept at school far past the dismissal time. That could mean a student spends over seven hours a day at school and even more time on daily homework outside of school. Most homework must be completed within a certain time frame, usually by midnight that night, forcing students to stay up later than is healthy.
That much time spent at school, focusing on school-related activities, can be extremely harmful to students’ mental health. Also, this exhaustion being associated with school could result in students not wanting to go to school altogether.
In addition to neurological effects, lack of sleep can be harmful to physical health. According to NIH News in Health: The Benefits of Slumber and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleep loss can affect stress hormones, immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and attention and behavior problems contributing to poor academic performance.
Many students have trouble simply staying awake during full 80 minute periods and suffer the consequences of falling asleep in their classes. Drifting off during lectures and classes is detrimental to students’ learning and academic performance.
Even if naptime doesn’t get its own seminar, it would be beneficial to have a designated quiet and comfortable space for students to nap during lunch or a free period. The wellness center on campus is open to the student body as a place for relaxation and a break from class. So, why don’t we take it a step further and have a napping center?
