Are SJC students getting enough sleep?
Are our students getting enough sleep? We universally understand the necessity of sleep for the energy it provides, heightened performance, improved mental focus, tranquility, and overall well-being.
When surveyed students at St. John’s provided insight into whether each individual was getting the necessary sleep each night.
The survey made it apparent that a majority of our community faces limitations to their sleep, often due to school itself. Responses ranged from homework and studying to too much work during the day that must be completed at night, an inability to balance school commute, and stress, often related to homework or grades. 380 out of 475 students (80%) answered that school prevents them from getting adequate sleep. Here are a few reasons provided by students. The quotes chosen represent a number of similar responses:
“When trying to balance a social life, sports, possibly work, and homework and studying, there isn’t enough time to do it all.”
“Sometimes when extracurricular obligations collide with tests, it’s harder to focus and study for said test, causing me to cram.”
“I have a lot of homework in all of my classes, and on top of that, I feel like I am studying for multiple tests every night, and then I have three in one day. It also makes it hard to sleep when I am super stressed and have to try to get ahead so I don’t fall behind.”
While these issues are not abnormal for a teenager to face, does that make them necessary? The workload, due dates, balance, and overall stress and anxiety that are being caused are taking away from our students’ sleep, which is crucial for recovery and future productivity. As a community, we need to find a way to fix this issue, either by providing a class for timeliness and preparation or allowing more flexibility within our students.
Insights from Well-Rested Students:
Some students who get more than 7 hours of sleep had some helpful things to say about how they achieve that:
“I find time in homeroom and lunch to do my homework.”
“If I still have homework past 10, I worry about it in the morning.”
“Make sure that I am in bed with lights out an hour before I have to fall asleep with homework and everything done.”
“Go to bed by 10.”
Time management is a skill, and working with and around extracurriculars can help us overcome some of these problems. However, workload, quizzes/tests, and other distractions or environmental changes are out of our control. It is how we communicate and react to these changes that allow us to get up and go back to school each morning.
