Students’ sleeping in class is not an anomaly when looking at the students’ sleeping hours (survey data of seventy Asia Pacific International School (APIS) students and its faculty members). Average sleeping hour (ASH) of APIS students—5 hours—was three to four hours lower than recommended sleep requirements set up by Lewistown Hospital1—8.5~9.5 hours—and one hour lower than ASH of APIS faculty members—6.5 hours.
Juniors, who rated the lowest ASH, listed that increased amount of homework and the pressures about college applications deprived their sleeping hours. Seniors, who rated the second lowest ASH, shared the same reasons. Pressures about academic achievements and the future which usually start from the eleventh grade explained the notable decline of ASH between tenth and eleventh grade students.
Yet, is the decreased sleeping hours really helpful for your academic performances? According to SleepdexTM, lacking sleeping hours, so called sleep debts, can cause numerous short term and long term problems. The most critical drawbacks for students are decline in memory capacity and the ability to think; when you feel lousy during classes by these drawbacks, the damages would be doubled. As the result, the pediatric research proved that those students who slept twenty minutes more than other students enjoyed higher GPA.
If you also decreased ASH, please make sure that you use that time meaningfully. We should ask, “Did you really study? How many hours do you spend on Facebook or Skype after midnight?” If the answers are negative, sleep instead; that way, you can have fresher minds for the next day.
Footnotes
1.Lewistown Hospital. Lewis Hospital. 2011-10-29. [http://www.lewistownhospital.org/default.cfm].
2. SleepdexTM. SleepdexTM.2011-10-20. [http://www.sleepdex.org/deficit.htm].
