奇速英语

研究表明，睡眠越少的学生在学业方面更吃力

American high school students who slept less than seven hours each night during the pandemic were more likely to struggle in school. That finding comes from a recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

For the study, the CDC questioned 7,705 students about their sleep schedules and success in school. More than two-thirds of students said they experienced more difficulty in their schoolwork during the pandemic than before the pandemic. About 75 percent of students did not sleep enough during the pandemic, the study found. Students who reported poor mental health during the pandemic were also more likely to get less sleep. Overall, 37 percent of students said they struggled with their mental health during the pandemic. But about 50 percent of students who slept five hours or less each night said they had poor mental health.

As students recover from learning loss due to the pandemic, schools “can consider including policies and practices known to improve sleep duration (持续时间),” the CDC said. Teenagers experience many physical changes when they go through puberty (青春期). ▲

As children get older, there is a change in their body’s natural clock. Before puberty, children may feel sleepy around 8 or 9 at night. But when they become teenagers, the body’s clock changes to make them tired much later — around 10 or 11 at night. Because of this, many teenagers may experience an inability to sleep.

Some school systems around the U.S. are pushing back start times for high schools so students can get more sleep. Usually, high schools start the earliest compared to middle and primary schools. The National Center for Education Statistics says the average start time for U.S. high schools is 8 a.m. But the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a start time of 8:30. The organization Start School Later supports pushing back school start times. It says at least 13,000 school systems in the United States have pushed back start times.