World Sleep Day

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• PSHE
• Primary Education
• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• Special Education
• GCSE

Introduction

Many young people suffer from sleep deprivation. Why is this and what can you do about it? On March 15, it's World Sleep Day and LessonUp created this interactive lesson.

Instructions

This lesson can be used informatively as a starter during a mentoring lesson (30 minutes), but it also offers the possibility of devoting an entire lesson to the topic of Sleep (+45 minutes). 

At your own discretion, slides can be removed and you choose those assignments from the lesson that suit your students.

Have fun and... sleep well!

Looking for more ready-made lessons? Then go to our LessonUp Inspiration channel!

World 

Sleep Day

Poll

Quiz

Mind Map

Hotspot

Drag & Drop

Open Question

Table of Contents

Learning Objectives

Explain why sleeping well is so important

Examine what factors affect your sleep

Learn what you need to do for a good night's sleep

Why do you think sleep is important?

How many hours sleep do you get per night?

On average, how many hours of sleep do young people need per night?

A

5-7 hours

B

10-12 hours

C

3-5 hours

D

8-10 hours

What happens during your sleep?

Major cleaning

When you sleep, your brain cells shrink temporarily. This gives the brain fluid more room to flush out waste products. So sleeping gives your brain a good cleaning!

Saving what you have learned

When you sleep, the connections between your brain cells change. You remember things because during sleep those connections become stronger.

Processing your day

Some connections get stronger when you sleep, but others get weaker. This releases tension. Therefore, good sleep helps against stress and emotions.

What percentage of young people get too little sleep?

1

38.2%

2

12.9%

3

42.7%

4

22.1%

42,7%

42.7%

of young people don't get enough sleep...

For the teacher

Discuss with the class:

Do you feel you sleep too short?

Do you feel you are sleeping out? Why yes/no?

What does it do to you when you sleep too little?

What percentage of young people get less than 6 hours sleep per night?

1

38.2%

2

19.1%

3

42.7%

4

22.1%

19,1%

19.1%

of children sleep less than 6 hours a night

For the teacher

Calculate with the class the average number of hours of sleep in the class. What does this say about the sleep behaviour of the group?

What percentage of young people take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep?

1

33.7%

2

19.1%

3

42.7%

4

22.1%

33,7%

33.7%

of youth take longer than half an hour to fall asleep

For the teacher

How long do students in class take to fall asleep? What is the reason for this?

What are reasons why pupils fail to fall asleep?

What could be helpful?

How does not enough sleep affect your health?

A

Stable emotions

B

Reduced concentration

C

Improves memory

D

Increased energy level

What is a possible cause of sleep problems in adolescents?

A

Sufficient daylight

B

Stress

C

Relaxing activities

D

Regular physical activity

Looking at a (screen) a lot makes you extra alert. This makes it harder to fall asleep. If you are on a screen until the last moment, you sleep about half an hour less, fall asleep later and wake up more often at night. During the day, you then often have more trouble staying awake.

School, social struggles or an overly busy schedule. They cause pressure and stress. You may feel like you have a lot to do and therefore lose track of things. You become overwhelmed and this disturbs your sleep. Worries and busy thoughts make you sleep shorter and worse.

Salt and fatty foods make your body go into active mode. It wants to burn the meal. This active mode causes you to sleep badly. Too little sleep increases your appetite. Your body wants to compensate for the lack of energy. This makes you eat more and therefore sleep worse. Not good for your rest and not good for your body.

It is good to do at least 1 hour of moderate-intensity exercise. This means increasing your heart rate and getting a little out of breath. Almost 60% of 12- to 18-year-olds do not make it. And that's a shame, because exercise is good for your brain as well as your sleep!

Alcohol makes you fall asleep quickly, but you wake up more often at night and are therefore not well rested in the morning. And anyway, no alcohol before the age of 18! Your brain is still developing and you are more likely to get alcohol poisoning.

Using drugs can disrupt your sleep rhythm, as well as make it difficult to fall asleep.

Caffeine disrupts the signal to your brain that you need to sleep. As a result, you don't feel tired. Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, energy drinks and cola, but also in chocolate!

Sleep deprivation in teenagers

Hormones, social activities and stress cause teenagers to go to bed later. Hormones make you sleep late and wake up late. In addition, late-night exercise, meeting up with friends and a side job can also make for a poorer night's sleep. 

What other factors cause poorer sleep?

Click on the hotspots and see if you recognise the factors that negatively affect your sleep.

For the teacher:

Discuss the content of this slide.

For example, have students raise their fingers at each hot spot. In the classroom, which factor is most responsible for sleep deprivation? How could you prevent it? How can you be helped to do so?

Have students work through this slide in groups or pairs. The results of the discussion can be shared in class.

Are there any other reasons in the group that disrupt sleep? 

Do students themselves experience adverse effects from sleep deprivation? If so, what?

Sleep-wake rhythms become disrupted in adolescents. For instance, the production of the hormone melatonin starts later. As a result, adolescents may suffer from a delayed sleep phase. The brain sends the signal to go to sleep too late. This makes it harder for adolescents to fall asleep. 

When adolescents get too little sleep, they become sleepy and irritable during the day. Their memory and concentration deteriorate, which in turn affects their learning outcomes.

What can help promote a good night's sleep?

A

Caffeine drinks

B

Afternoon naps

C

Regular sleeping schedule

D

Long screen time

You know what can disrupt your sleep. So...how well do you take care of your sleep? What (sleep) habits do you recognise in yourself? 

Drag the habits you recognise in yourself with a sleep mask. 

Take a good look at the result.

Are you getting a good night's sleep?

Setting a sleeping pattern

Games

Enough natural light

Social 

Media

Work

Plans

Working out too late

Quiet and calm room

Eating too late

Phone by your bed

For the teacher:

Discuss with students what habits they still have 'uncovered'. Are these sleep-promoting or sleep-disrupting habits?

Are these habits adaptable? Is this easy to achieve? Why yes/no?

What do the students themselves think about their sleep habits? Do they see any problems in their sleep behaviour?

What else could you do to improve your 

sleep?

Take the Sleep test

Want to know if your personal sleep habits are healthy for a good night's sleep?

Then do the Sleep test and get instant personal tips to improve your sleep.

Make a record of your sleep together

Make your own Sleeping Poster with the class. A poster full of tips for getting enough sleep in a fun and informative way.

In groups, you will work together to provide 1 sleeping tip to share with the class. Go through the following steps:

With the class, group together what tips you have for a good night's sleep. 

Don't have any ideas? Then look for tips online.

1

With your group, answer the questions:

Why does this tip help you get a better night's sleep?

What do you need to do for it?

Would I follow this tip?

How do I convince my peers to start doing this?

These answers will form the content of your Sleep Poster.

2

On an A4 sheet, turn your tip into an attractive, creative Sleep Poster. Keep the content short and to the point. 

Keep in mind that it should be fun for your classmates to follow your tip!

3

You can stick all the Sleeping Posters together on a big sheet. This will become your classes sleeping record.

Are there any tips that might work for you?

4

Create a dream journal

It's not 100% scientifically proven, but we probably dream to process the day's activities. 

Therefore, try making a dream diary.

   - Write down your dream every morning for a week.

   - For each dream, try to think of where it

      could have come from.

   - You can tell the funniest, craziest, funniest dream in class. 

      tell.

   - Can you explain each other's dreams?

Want to know more about the meaning of dreams?

Then check out this site!

*

For the teacher

You can choose to have students draw or 3D their dream.

Students can make a comic strip of their dream.

Turn the dreams into a film script. If the students are the directors, how would they like their film to turn out? 

Make a stop motion film of a dream.

Get students to think about the theme that was at the centre of their dream this week. Can they find an overarching theme? Do they understand where that theme comes from?

What will you change about your sleeping habits?

What will you change about your sleeping habits?

Here, students enter three things they learnt in this lesson. By doing so, they indicate their own learning from this lesson.

What would you like to know more about?

What would you like to know more about?

Here, students indicate (in question form) which part of the material they are still struggling with. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which students understand/manage the material, but also a good starting point for a subsequent lesson.

What question would you still like to ask about sleep?

What question would you still like to ask about sleep?

Here, students indicate (in question form) which part of the material they are still struggling with. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which students understand/manage the material, but also a good starting point for a subsequent lesson.

Goodnight!