al .’ s study ? I ’ ve tried something similar in courses , and you do get a reaction of , “ Whoa !” from them . But will that actually change their sleep behavior ? Are grades a powerful enough motivator to change how much or how well they are sleeping ? And are students willing or even able to change their sleep choices in the first place ?
“ While sleep quality is a factor which is not fully under control of students , their average sleep duration is to a large extend a choice . In this respect we follow Mindell et al . ( 2011 ) that ‘ sleep should be a standard component of school curriculums , with an emphasis on the importance of the need for sleep , the impact of sleep loss , awareness of sleep problems , and the basics of sleep and sleep architecture .’ In addition , higher education providers might be incentivized to invest part of their resources for social facilities in professional support for students with health - including sleep - problems ” ( Baert , et al ., 2015 , p . 97 ).
So Baert and his team ( along with Mindell , et al . quoted within ) are arguing here that students are in some control of their sleep – maybe not the actual quality but at least the length ( more about how universities can help later ). So if it ’ s possible for them to control how long they sleep , then it must be possible for instructors to influence that behavior as well . But again , is talking about how grades and sleep are related the best course ? Perhaps it depends on the type of student . Among the sleepy student archetypes I discussed earlier , perhaps the people you could reach with this approach are those overstretched but well-intentioned ones who have just bitten off more than they can chew with their schedules . Knowing that burning the candle at both ends is making the quality of what they are trying to accomplish suffer , and will end up causing a drop in their grades , is probably something that can make this type of student pause and reevaluate priorities . For the other type of student who sleeps poorly because of bad time management skills or just a lack of motivation , their grades have probably been taking a hit for some time , and the idea of poor grades on the horizon if sleep doesn ’ t improve might not be the jolt they need . So , what else can we do ?
First , we need to incorporate sleep science into our lessons and into the course activities and projects our students do . Especially when done as a research project or a presentation , students may internalize the available information about how sleep affects their school lives and health , and then reinforce those ideas when presenting their findings to their classmates . This might be enough to reach those students willing to accept it and lead to actual changes in behavior . But as Baert , et al . ( 2015 ) suggest , this also needs to be tackled at the institutional level as well . Sleep science needs to be factored in to more than just language courses . And even more importantly , incoming freshman need to be taught time management skills as they enter university . This is when they ’ re most able to adjust their schedules and make decisions about how they allocate their time . How much do they need to work at part-time jobs ? Are circles and clubs worth the time spent ? These questions , and knowing that sleep cannot be the thing always sacrificed to make room for everything else , is crucial for these new students to learn .
In the end , I have to say that the threat of poor grades alone is not enough to get students to sleep enough at night . It will take this multi-pronged approach from every level of their educational experience to influence this behavior . But as a start , tell them that sleeping well before that test could make the difference between passing and failing , and maybe that will make some difference .