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Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

newsweek.com

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Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#2
Especially high school students. We had to get up at 5:55 am everyday in the early 2000s, with class starting promptly at 7:35 am. It definitely affected our attention span for the first few classes each day. I count my blessings that nowadays, my first real meeting at work doesn't start until 10:30 am.

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#3
Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank)

It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many people and too little fresh air. I thought it was just me dreading my lessons, but in reality it was from co2 ppm reaching levels that humans can't properly function in.

We wake up students too early, put them in rooms that kill cognitive performance and then have the audacity to complain when they can't follow along!

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#4
A co-author of the study recommends establishing regular bedtime routines.

I wager the lack of a regular routine is the source of the problem. The school I went to had split shifts. I was on the early shift, and had to be up at 5AM. It wasn't a big deal because I had to be in bed by 9PM or it was my ass.

Perhaps kids would get more sleep if their parents had rules and enforced them.

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#5
post #3

Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank) It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many…

> We wake up students too early

Based on what you just said, if we moved school to 10am, you would just stay up until 4am playing StarCraft.

I don't think school is too early. I think you just stayed up too late.

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#6
post #3

Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank) It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many…

> I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many people and too little fresh air.

Did you test this hypothesis at the time with a CO2 monitor? Lack of sleep causes headaches, too.

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#7
post #3

Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank) It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many…

>We wake up students too early

I agree, but... you were staying up until 1-2am playing video games. C'mon.

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#8
Why We Sleep[1] is a pretty complete look at what we know about sleep today and implies that many of the things I thought like being able to catch up on sleep is just wrong. Did confirm my belief that there are some people that just can operate on less, but they are fewer than might be imagined.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#9
post #5
post #3

Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank) It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many…

> We wake up students too early Based on what you just said, if we moved school to 10am, you would just stay up until 4am playing StarCraft. I don't think school is too early. I think you just stayed up too late.

By that logic, if we moved school to 5 am, he would have simply only stayed up until 10 pm. Is that particularly realistic?

Re: Around 30 percent of children in the U.S. don't get enough sleep: study

#10
post #7
post #3

Lack of sleep was definitely the cause of my terrible grades in highschool mathematics. I would stay up late (1-2 am) to play in starcraft tournaments, to have 8 am classes in mathematics. (There's a neat inverse correlation between my highschool grades and starcraft rank) It's crazy to me just how terrible school systems are at optimizing for learning. I would get terrible headaches from classrooms that had too many…

>We wake up students too early I agree, but... you were staying up until 1-2am playing video games. C'mon.

I stayed up til the same time reading books for the same reason OP stayed up, not being tired. Teenagers have a delayed sleep cycle compared to adults, it’s not a matter of choice, it’s when your body says to wake up or sleep autonomously, same as my baby wakes at 5am and sleeps at 8pm, because that’s what his body is telling him to do.
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