Nap clubs in schools are gaining more attention. Sleep-deprived and weary students meet regularly in quiet rooms to catch up on sleep and their teachers are encouraging this.
Some schools even sponsor the clubs with comfortable sleep facilities and consultations with experts. Lack of sleep is not only affecting school performance and students' focus as the kids also develop health problems.
Teen students, as it is, are not getting the recommended hours of sleep. The academic demands of completing school works and projects, over-scheduling activities, the early school start times and the distraction on the internet are some of the reasons why kids averagely get less than six hours of shut-eye.
The Las Cruces Public Schools in New Mexico has invested in four EnergyPods for students and teachers. Boston Community Leadership Academy has the Path Program, where students are allowed one period daily for sleeping, resting or de-stressing without gadgets, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Chicago Public Schools are working with the University of Chicago Crime Lab on a study that lets students sleep or meditate for 20 minutes. In other schools across America, kids who make good grades are allowed to sleep in for their first period.
"It is not a substitute for getting eight to ten hours of nightly sleep, but it does recharge the batteries," teacher Anton Anderson told Education World. He has established the Power Napping Club at the Greenwich High School in Connecticut since 1998.
The students in this club meet in an empty classroom to slump on a chair or sleep on the floor as soothing music plays. The club meetings have become a routine, which many members said they can't do at home because there are too many distractions.
Some parents might not approve of allowing kids to snooze in school. Some might think this system coddles the students. Experts, however, have long been saying teen students are sleep-deprived, according to Science News. It's high time schools are addressing this.
