10 Tips That Can Prevent Sleep Problems From Causing A Fall In School Grades
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It has been felt for some time now that inadequate or low quality sleep in teens results in poor grades at school, however it was not until recently that a formal research study confirmed that teens with bad sleeping habits do in fact suffer from lower grades.
Here are 10 simple tips to make sure that an otherwise healthy child does not suffer from sleeping problems and enjoys the level of sleep necessary to perform well in school.
1. Decide upon a regular time to go to bed and do not vary this time by more than a few minutes from day to day.
2. Ensure that you get up at the same time each morning, regardless of whether or not it is a school day. Teenagers often have a lie-in on weekends and throughout the school holidays and, rather than making you feel better, this just disrupts your sleep pattern.
3. When you find that you cannot fall asleep within about 20 minutes of climbing into bed then do not just lie in bed trying to get to sleep, as the more you try the more difficult it will get. As an alternative, get up and do something such as listening to some relaxing music or reading a book. As soon as you start to feel tired, get back into bed and you should fall asleep in next to no time.
4. Avoid the temptation to stay up late doing your homework or preparing for a test. Despite the fact that this could appear to be the answer to a particular problem in the short term, and might keep you out of trouble for turning in your homework late or see you through a test, in the longer term your performance will fall and any short term gain will quickly be lost.
5. Do not be tempted to take a nap after school. Should you find that you are so tired you cannot keep your eyes open then go ahead and take a nap but for no more than an hour.
6. Steer clear of any type of drink that contains caffeine after about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. This naturally applies to coffee and tea, but also includes colas and chocolate drinks.
7. Do not eat a heavy meal too close to bedtime. You obviously do not want to go to bed feeling hungry and having a light snack prior to bedtime is okay, but going to bed on a full stomach will make it difficult for you to fall asleep and affect your quality of sleep.
8. Although teenagers will often spend a great deal of time in their bedroom and turn it into much more of a ‘living’ than a ’sleeping’ room, avoid using the bed for anything other than sleeping. Do not sit in bed writing, reading, watching TV, playing games or anything else but keep it solely for sleeping so that your body associates climbing into bed with going to sleep.
9. Do not take any strenuous exercise within several hours of bedtime. If you wish to play soccer or engage in other sports or vigorous activities then do these shortly after school and not an hour or two before you go to bed.
10. When it comes to bedtime ensure that the bedroom is quiet, dark and cool. Do not close your bedroom up, turn up the heat and climb into bed to watch TV. Instead, turn the heating down, open the window a little if you can to let in some fresh air and make the room as dark as possible.
Follow these 10 tips and within no time at all your quality of sleep will improve, you will feel more awake and active during the day and your school grades will improve.
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