This article was written by Alaya Coleman
Sleeping in class is often frowned upon, however in Psychology classes at the high school, students get to live the dream and sleep the entire hour. As they take these naps, they test to see whether nodding off in class has benefits.
In Psychology and AP Psychology, students are learning about how sleep impacts their day (or mindset) through a Sleep Lab. The students test whether a nap during the school day improves or hinders their performance throughout the day. Students come into their psychology class and sleep for the full hour. For six hours after the class nap, they track their physical energy, mood and hunger.
Senior Maggie Galmish has studied her sleep for weeks and learned the effects on her brain. She learned the cycles of sleep and how the brain was affected by sleep afterward whether she feels more energized or worn out.
“Getting more sleep definitely helps me feel more energized just throughout the day, being able to focus better and interact with others in school too,” Galmish said.
Adrianah Bean is a junior who has also studied her sleep over the past four weeks. She sees the benefits, the effects of sleep,and how it can affect her day and her brain. This lab gave her more time to reflect on her own sleep habits.
“Sleep lab taught me that after a short nap, and it’s disrupted, I wake up feeling tired, and I wanna go back to sleep. But then, once I start to wake up, I feel better and more focused,” Bean said.
Not only is Bean a student, she is also an athlete, which can make it harder to keep herself pepped up when she is working hard during practices. But for her a nap helps her feel more energized during practices which shows the effect of sleep.
“I think it [a nap] helps me be more rested and ready to practice. Because if I go into practice tired, I don’t perform my best. I think a short nap can help me, but that alone doesn’t help,” Bean said.
River Wilson is a senior athlete who has experienced sleep cycles and the effects on him. He has studied his sleep schedule for the past month and has documented the times he sleeps and wakes up, to help him track his sleep he downloaded an app that helps track sleep patterns throughout the night. He has been working hard to keep up with the sleep schedule and his sport, which isn’t easy.
“Since the sleep lab started, I’ve been falling asleep at a more consistent time. Before I’d fall asleep randomly, but now I fall asleep around, more of a ten thirty ish time, and then I’m always waking up at six o’clock. So it gave me a more concrete sleep schedule.” Wilson said.
While doing a sport some will say a nap helps them feel more awake and helps them finish the practice, though naps are not beneficial for everyone. For Wilson, this effect may impact his day and what the rest of the day may look like.
AP Psychology is a class meant to help students understand their mind and body. Kaley Johnson teaches the class and has been guiding them in their understanding of sleep cycles, healthy sleep habits, and resources to help them improve sleep. She has talked about the cycles and how they are feeling after the nap, whether it helped them or not.
“I had a good majority of kids that did fall asleep, and we got some good data about how they felt after taking a nap. The whole point is that we’re testing their circadian rhythm. So this is the twenty-four hour clock that we’re on. So it’s, when we take a nap and we interrupt that cycle, what happens to us later. Beforehand we had them track their sleep for ten days, so they fill out a log with what time they fell asleep, what time they woke up, how many times they woke up in the night, and then any other factors, did you have a lot of caffeine that day, or were you stressed that day,” Johnson said.
Sleep lab taught many students the importance of sleep and how it affects the brain the rest of the day. The sleep lab is just the beginning. Changing sleep habits takes routine and practice, and we can all learn a little more about how to prioritize sleep in an intentional way.
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