What Happens When You Start School Later: Tackling Sleep Deprivation

Since the second half of 2016, Nanyang Girls' High has been starting school 45 minutes later than most in Singapore, so that students can get proper sleep. And the results have been noticeable.

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[erickkang]

I honestly don’t think we need a researcher to tell us that we perform better when we get enough sleep.

[tomeu]

"For a long time, we notice our girls are not sleeping enough."

It just means, for a long time... No one is doing anything about it.

[erikajeeyynn]

Wake up: 5am
Trip: 45mins
Time: 7am
Dismissal: 5pm
Assignments: 3 to 7 subjects + studying for upcoming tests
Sleep: 1am

[bearie]

My school starts at 6:50 am. So the fact that i had to wake up at 4:45 pm..that means im still sleepy.

[cameliaatina]

My school starts at 6.25 am and i have to wake up at 5 and sometimes i still have to run to the gate

[Samlowkiapeng]

as if your body telling you you were tired and dozing off every half an hour wasn't common sense. But when a medical researcher comes in and gives findings that can be googled, it suddenly becomes common sense and receives huge support from the school administration. Tsk. My schooling days would've been 5 times better if we started class at 9-10, which is the recommended starting time for teens.

[maryv]

Since everyone is posting their routine here is a New Zealand school one:
6:00am - wake up
8:45am - school begins
3:15pm - school ends
5:00pm - afterschool activities finished
5:30pm - get home
7:00pm to 10:30pm - studying and homework
11:00pm - sleep

[mingmangmung]

I still don’t understand why kids need to wake up so early when in university we have late lectures

[karan.kk.h]

I forgot 6-5 hours of sleep is little, it seems like a lot to me now

[warriorbard]

This is a huge issue in schools in Asia. Kids in some parts of Australia, the US and Europe start school at 9am with no issues to their academic career. Do kids need all of those after school extra activities? No. It all comes down to the *quality* of education not quantity. Schools should teach kids about obtaining a healthy work/life balance and in Asia this is sorely lacking.

[lennethrusli]

School lessons = students should have 7-8 hours of sleep
Also the school = WAKE UP! WE ARRIVE AT DAWN BISH!

[johnwig]

And CCA ending late is a factor too. Some schools give warning letters if u dont attend CCA so bo pian

[tearchinsee]

Then what about primary school??
-_- most of the people in mah school fell asleep in class

[NellLiuNini]

I’m from Nanyang Girl’s High, and this year they made school start 15 minutes earlier from 8:15am to 8:00 🙂

[jajaja]

I sleep: 1am
I wake up: 615am
I get to school: 753am
Class starts: 810am
School ends: 310

[mig]

'Teachers in other schools, when they heard about this, they were quite astonished. It never occured to them that such a thing can happen.'

You mean they haven't been even noticing it the whole time? They are the type of people to ask, 'What is sleep?'. The Singapore Education System may be one of the best in the world but I am disappointed in it. You may have good grades... But that comes with a sacrifice of sleep and free time, stress, reduced creative thinking, lesser outspoken people due to the fear of failure. It just seems that the 'Joy Of Learning' initiative doesn't work now.

[megmorris]

The girl who laughter about falling asleep on the toilet is literally me 😂😂

[alifishies]

I wake up at around 7 and it still don't feel like I'm getting enough sleep.

[woofberry]

Wake up: 6:15am
Trip: 1h 30min
Sch Starts: 8:15am
Dismissal: 3:30-4pm, 6pm on days w/ cca
Get home: 6pm, 8pm on days w/ cca
Assignments: 8 subjects + tuition homework and cca projects
Sleep: 12-1am, 3am on days w/ cca

[jahnavigmenon]

My school starts at 9 am but the workload we have makes it impossible to get more than 6 hours of sleep