The Effect of Daily in-School Sleep Program on Educational Performance among High School Students

Abstract

Background and Objective: Sleep is one of the important factors in the quality of brain function. In particular, the function of the person, learning, memory, concentration, and the potential of the individual are closely related to sleep. With regard to age and physiological changes, the average sleep time among adolescents is low. In this study, the effect of a daily nap on the promotion of academic performance of high school adolescents in Tehran, Iran, has been assessed.

Materials and Methods: In this research, 56 high school students from one of Tehran's schools with an average age of 15.3 years were volunteered. Students went to the school hall after finishing classes in the morning at 12:10, and it was 50 minutes when they were considered for their sleep. Students informed researchers with a questionnaire on the educa-tional activities outside the school.

Results: The participants showed to have an average of 2059.50 minutes after-school activity during the 2 weeks preced-ing the intervention, which reached 2388.11 minutes after the implementation of the in-school sleep program. This time was significantly higher than after-school activity time before intervention.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, there is a significant positive correlation between daytime napping and the capacity of after-school activity in adolescents. More investigation about installing in-school sleep programs for improving educational performance in adolescents is recommended.