School leaders play a crucial role in creating a culture that prioritizes and supports healthy sleep habits for students. Through their policies, practices, and attitudes, school leaders have the power to have a positive or negative impact on the benefits of sleep for the health of their students.
By promoting a supportive sleep-conducive environment and valuing sleep as a critical component of overall health and well-being, school leaders can positively impact students’ sleep habits and health. On the other hand, by promoting a culture of over-scheduling and neglecting the importance of sleep, school leaders can contribute to sleep deprivation and negatively affect the health and well-being of their students. Students that are well rested perform better at cognitive tasks such as tests and exams.
Why through schoolmanagement?
Some interventions require changes at school leader level. Such as changing the schedule of the lectures, deciding at what time the lessons start and finish and any changes that have to be made to the facilities in the building or the building itself.
What can the schoolmanagement do?
- Something school leaders can do is direct teachers’ schedules. If teachers take more account of the deadlines of different subjects and classes, this ensures a better spread of school work so students are less likely to mess up their sleep schedule.
- Adjust the time at which the lessons begin in the morning, to better match the circadian rhytm of the students.
- Organize lectures on the benefits of healthy sleep patterns
- Inform parents through the various means such as the schoolpaper, the website and social media
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