The Power of Sleep
In the world of COVID and Quarantining, education has been difficult for all of us. Whether you are an educator trying to balance hybrid, cohorts and fully virtual students or you are a parent trying to pay the bills and make sure your child is learning, it has been difficult for everyone. Unfortunately, our children are the ones who have had the most difficulty. Being at home for the majority of learning, kids are struggling to maintain structure and define learning and play times in the same setting. There is one thing you can do everyday that will increase the chances that your child is successful in learning. Make bedtime a priority and set a routine.
I meet with students in person and virtually. From what I hear from many of our virtual students is bedtime varies from 8 pm to 2am. As I talk with students they are engaged at all hours of the night, some playing video games and some of them submitting work in the wee hours of the morning. You can see it on their faces, as we talk. In fact, I think one child actually fell asleep during our morning meeting. “Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity” (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). We have known for a while that poor sleep habits effects reading and math scores, but we now know it impacts how we take in new information, how we attend and puts our physical health at risk. (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-23223751). Good sleep is just not a recommendation but necessary for us to learn and be healthy.
Now, I have children and know the power of the XBOX, lol. I am not saying that you should throw it out but instead set limits on gaming systems or devices like phones or tablets. Parental controls allow you to shut down a device for a certain amount of time. In addition to parental controls, you can schedule times in the day that your child has access to electronics. Make it part of the school day. Complete a reading assignment, and reward your child with 20 minutes of time on the XBOX. Submit a math worksheet and your child can go on their phone for 15 minutes. The most important thing though, is that after 9 pm all devices are off. Our brain needs time to rest and reset and that cannot happen when we extend our screen time.
Proper rest is vital for our children to be able to take in information, attend and learn new things. COVID has presented us with different challenges in maintaining a schedule and balancing home and school in blended environments. But wherever we are, whether in a traditional learning environment or home on a laptop, all students benefit from a good night’s sleep. Try it and see, set limits and make bedtime a priority. I am confident you will love the results!
Steph Chambers M.Ed.
