Kontan’s Place

Sometimes I wonder how in the WORLD my kids can be falling asleep. We’re talking about the Civil War, come on! Not like it isn’t interesting!!! For the most part I have had the attention of my students. I make the lecture as descriptive as possible, show my own enthusiasm, and try to put it in a way they can understand. There are always a few who insist on attempting to sleep.

I ran across this article in google news.

Sleepy teens nodding off at school
Battle of nature vs. schedules takes toll

In a poll which comes as no surprise to parents - and perhaps high school teachers - many of the nation’s adolescents a re falling asleep in class, arriving late to school, feeling down and driving drowsy because they aren’t getting enough sleep.
What’s worse, according to the poll released by the National Sleep Foundation, the trend gets worse as the teens get older.

In a national survey on the sleep patterns of U.S. adolescents (ages 11-17), NSF’s 2006 Sleep in America poll finds that 20 percent of adolescents get the recommended nine hours of sleep on school nights, and nearly one-half (45 percent) sleep less than eight hours on school nights.

What’s more, the poll finds that parents are mostly in the dark about their adolescents’ sleep. While most students know they’re not getting the sleep they need, 90 percent of parents polled believe that their adolescent is getting enough sleep at least a few nights during the school week.
cont…

Students are staying up to all hours of the night watching TV, or on the net. Easy to do, trust me I know! But the parents have NO IDEA! Come on! Pull the plug, do something! Be a parent…or guardian as the case may be. (click for a definition) No, I know at some point you have to let kids be responsible, but you also have to reinforce what being responsible is. Getting enough sleep is SO important. Believe me, I know! I spent the last two years in sleep deprivation! It feels SO good to get a good nights sleep these days. It really makes the rest of the day better and productivity increases as well. Some say “I perform best when I am staying up…” Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Once you allow your body to adapt to actually getting enough sleep you will see just how “good” you can perform. Hey, I’m one that says I write best under the pressure of a deadline. Nah, probably not, but desperation is a good motivator to finish. Not so sure the quality is better though.