G11 Advisory Session on Chronotypes & Sleep Hygiene

During a recent advisory session with the Grade 11 students, we explored sleep habits, chronotypes, and gathered data on students’ sleep routines. First, we used this New York Times quiz titled “What Kind of Sleeper are You?” to determine our individual chronotypes (if you have not taken it, this ten-question quiz provides interesting data and only takes a few minutes to complete).
Some of the more interesting sleep survey results are here below:

• Nearly 50% of our Grade 11 students reported averaging between 5-6 hours of sleep a night (though note that Johns Hopkins pediatrician Michael Crocetti recommends 9 hours of nightly sleep for teens)
• Nearly 97% of our Grade 11 students sleep with their phones in their room, though of that percentage 69% have their phones in “do not disturb” mode
  
• 69% of our Grade 11 students reported that they exercise regularly, which correlates with better sleep
  
• 76% of our Grade 11 students reported that they feel tired during the day

Together, we looked at research on blue light, the benefits of exercise on sleep, and the benefits of sleeping with devices in other rooms as part of the advisory session. We wrapped up the session by giving students a range of articles to select from to learn more about sleep hygiene. We hope that the session promoted a greater understanding of teens and sleep needs as a way to support overall wellness.

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