“Sleep is God, Go Worship”
Jim Butcher
I have a confession to make, I am a terrible sleeper. My starting point with the teachers and leaders that I work with is always, get your sleep habits in order and you will be much better at this education business. Like a broken record, I tell them, “You can’t do good, if you don’t feel good.” And that means getting a good night’s sleep. No wonder I feel like a fraud.
Last night when I realised that it was 11.30pm and I was watching Love Island repeats, I knew that the state of my sleep habits needed some serious attention. In the midst of the narcissistic festival that was occurring on screen I made some mental notes about my sleep problems and referred to Circadian Neuroscientist Russel Foster’s, ‘Little Book of Sleep’ for some expert advice. Interestingly, as I turned my attention to my sleeping issues and away from the utter devastation of two day romances gone wrong, what hit me right between the eyes is the impact that a lack of sleep not only has on adults, but children.
Our lives can be split up into three pretty equal parts – sleep, work and social/family time. Get that balance wrong and the ramifications to both your physical and mental health are quite frightening. A great deal of research has been undertaken about sleep and its ability to help us conserve energy and restore our tired bodies. But the ability for sleep to aid brain processing and memory consolidation is the one that has the greatest impact on classrooms everywhere. Sleep deprivation as a result of, long work hours, marking and report writing, mountains of homework, computer games, social media to name a few, severely reduces the ability to learn new tasks and solve complex problems. A lack of sleep also inhibits our ability to strengthen the connections that help us consolidate new skills.
Tired students have trouble remembering, are more impulsive, display poorer judgement and their ability to solve complex problems is reduced three fold. This, coupled with a stressed teacher who is lacking sleep, is a perfect storm. Schools can no longer afford to ignore the importance of sleep to both students and teachers.
Teachers and School Leaders are experts in education and we should be offering parents and students some pointers on the art of a good nights sleep. This might include:
- Prepare for bed by dimming lights and if possible turning off the TV in favour of a book.
- Turn off phones and all forms of social media at least an hour before bed.
- Write a to do list for tomorrow so it doesn’t keep you awake today.
- Go to bed at a consistent time and wake up at a consistent time.
- Make sure the bedroom is cool and as dark as possible.
- Fill your morning with light, open the curtains and welcome the day.
Sleep increases concentration, attention, decision making, creativity, social skills and health. It also decreases moodiness, stress, anger, impulsivity, drinking and smoking. They seem like good enough reasons for me. So go on, get busy sleeping and I will promise never to watch Love Island, unless my wife is snoring again.
