Study hall is a good opportunity for students to catch up on work, however, many students don’t use their time wisely or feel as though they don’t have enough time. A great way to encourage students to use study halls is to introduce nap time as an option. Students often have to make the decision to give up sleep to finish their work. Plus, with study hall only being 25 minutes, students do not have much time to complete homework. What they do have time for is a nap. A 10-20 minute nap is plenty of time to increase productivity for the rest of the school day. In fact, 73% of students don’t get enough sleep and 30% of those students fall asleep in class. If the school had a dedicated classroom for students to have the ability to nap then students would get the sleep they needed. According to Dr. Mathew Carter, a sleep specialist, students are able to get “more done on a good night’s sleep.” On average, high schoolers need 9 hours of sleep, but in reality, most end up getting 5 hours. Having designated classrooms for students to sleep in will increase productivity. Students that get a proficient amount of sleep will still be able to ask teachers questions or work on any homework they may have. Although there is no direct correlation between sleep and grades, sleep does boost memory and learning which could improve grades. Students have about 3.5 hours of homework a night, according to the Washington Post. With the possibility of having up to 7 classes, the amount of homework a night could easily total to about 4 or 5 hours. Not to mention all the extracurricular activities, jobs, and family commitments students have to attend to, causing most students to start their homework between 5 and 9, which then leads to sleepless nights. While homework is not the only thing students miss sleep for, it’s a huge factor. Regardless, nap time would really benefit students and would make study hall more useful and effective for everyone.
