Many students around the world struggle with lack of sleep due to distractions and busy schedules. This has been a common complaint amongst many, and one may think this cannot be fixed. School is incredibly exhausting, however there is a solution: nap time!
Between waking up early, sitting through excruciating long classes doing homework, and balancing extracurricular activities, it is no surprise students feel exhausted all the time. A simple solution to this problem could be a 20-minute nap during a student’s time at school. While it might sound unnecessary, studies show that “power naps” can make a great difference in how we feel and function throughout the day.
A quick nap is more than just relaxing. It can help the brain function better! When kids are exhausted, it’s difficult to pay attention in class, and it’s easy to miss important material teachers are saying. Taking a 20-minute power nap gives a brain break, so it’s easier to come back to class ready to learn.
It is not just about grades either, nap time can also improve mood! A short nap can help people feel calmer and less overwhelmed, which makes school life a little easier to handle.
Nap time would be an effective solution to sleep deprivation for high school students. This solution can benefit the students and the staff by fixing bad cognitive issues, lack of energy, and grogginess.
“Nap time should be around lunch time or a period before maybe after,” junior Austin Rath said. Students believe it would be a wise decision to benefit everybody by including it in their schedule.
Adding nap time to the school day is not just about letting kids sleep more, it is about giving students a chance to recharge so they can do their best. With all the benefits naps provide, including stress relief, memory boosting and increasing alertness, it’s clear that a small break for rest could make a significant difference for students.
“Nap time gives us time to recharge because we definitely don’t get the sleep we need,” says junior Makalya Hess. This shows how high schoolers need to sleep because they must adapt from waking up an hour later to an hour earlier. Highschoolers have been hoping for time to nap for a while because extracurricular activities and homework give a lot of stress and not a lot of time to sleep.
“School is very tiring and mentally draining,” states sophomore Arianna Urena since school has a big impact on kids. Highschoolers put so much effort into finding ways to save time for homework and other activities outside of school. This can put heavy amounts of mental stress as well as anxiety leading to lack of sleep. The lack of sleep can cause students to have mood swings throughout the day and less productivity for schoolwork.
However, napping is only part of the main solution to lack of sleep. Students should try their best to adopt a healthy sleep schedule, nap or not. Going to sleep on time can help students and teachers during the day with physical and mental abilities.
“Creating positive sleep and eating habits is what we try targeting because it can be vulnerable to added anxiety, and more stress,” therapist Dr. Dheil said. She leads to the fact that sleep deprivation will take a toll on more than just how tired kids are, but also their mental health and wellbeing.
Overall, nap time should be included in a typical high school day because it could help everyone. Having more time to rest can help lift grades and spirits higher. Most people, both students and teachers alike, would agree that built in nap time would be the perfect solution to sleepy students.
