Sleeping Habits of Teenage Students in America - Essay Example

 Personal project 1. Describe the Project My project involves practicing good sleeping habits for teenage (college) day-scholar students who are participants in national and regional contests in scientific and mathematics innovations. This sleep project entails the practical application of sleeping good habits with minimum disturbance, compulsory sleeping and waking time and improved conditions for the students who are to represent the school in the contests as a prerequisite to good mental state, body relaxation and sober minds as are necessary for creativity, innovation as well as improved memory. People often define sleep to be a time when the human body is left to rest and, thus, shuts down (Pollard and Rice 1). Studies in neural chemistry, as well as in neural imaging, have pointed out that ample sleep fosters emotional as well as mental resilience and as such, poor and insufficient sleep, as characterized by disruptions, exposes a personal to emotional and thinking vulnerability (Harvard health publications, para 1-4). Deprivation of sleep in the teen-age period is associated to various effects, which include physical problems, cognitive impairment as well as complications of mental health (Akerstedt, 2; Danner and Phillips 533). These explain the fatigue, sleepiness feeling and lowered concentration that day scholars in high schools suffer from. The result of such problems as pointed out is poor academic performance, as well as low creativity and innovation, therefore, necessitating change in order to realize the immediate improvement in creativity and innovation for such students involved in science contests. 2. Define the Goal and Objectives of the Project: a. Quantifiable Goal and Objectives The basic objective of the project is to have the day school administration and parents to the thirty science students whose projects were chosen for the national and regional contest mobilize funds and support refurbishment of a temporary dormitory to be used for the three months preparation period before the contests. This was informed by the understanding of the prevailing domestic conditions that many of such students face and which contribute to the problem of not having enough sleep. Students are exposed to extreme noises, poor living conditions as well as no enforcement of regulations to have the students observe healthy habits of sleep, which results to low concentrations in class as well as poor performance in such contests. The project will also inform the parents and the school on better and improved ways of enhancing sufficiency in sleep through improved conditions and standards of sleeping. Research studies show that an adult person is entitled to a sleeping period of seven or eight hours while the teens who are school going, require a sleeping period of about ten hours (National heart lung and blood institute 1). This project has it that such an immediate influence on how the students would perform in such a context with better receptivity, reduced physical problems, cognitive impairment as well as complications of mental health, which have direct implications to performance in such contests. b. Deadlines This project is unique in that besides facilitation of the good performance of the students in the forthcoming contest, it will set precedence for such other measures that would be embraced in the future as pertains to student’s performance in academic matters. In its uniqueness, it is planned to run for a period of three months within which the students will be engaged in intensive preparation for the science contests. To achieve the above outlined objectives within the three months, the parents and the school administration will be required to contribute finances which will be required to refurbish the accommodation facilities as well as payment for such service as will be required in security, catering and technical assistance in logistics. c. Overall “Purpose” – Why is this Project “significant?” Having the basis on the past studies that have investigated the effect of having little than enough sleep especially to the school going teens in relation to stress, fatigue, sleeping in class and general concentration in class, which all have implications towards the academic performance of the students. This will have an implication towards such critical steps in preparation towards such contests that involve a lot of concentration, creativity, innovation as well as teamwork. Sleep problems increase chances of occurrence of mental disorders and illnesses and research has also shown that these disorders would be the cause to the problems of sleep. Among other benefits associated with enough sleep are the proper muscle relaxation, boosted immune system functioning as well as controlled blood pressure and body temperature. On the other hand, there is a revealed link between sleep and health complications such as bipolar disorders, depression, anxiety disorders as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Expert has revealed that art of sleeping can be learnt. Among other recommendations from the sleeping hygiene are maintaining a regular discipline in sleeping and waking up schedules, having bedroom used only for sleep and maintaining the room in dark for the reason of avoiding disruptions while sleeping. 3. Outline a Plan of how you intend to accomplish the Project a. Resources Needed (People, Materials, Financial) The project has direct involvement of people in organization and management of the students towards their success in the science contests. It will therefore involve parents, the school administration and teachers as well as the students themselves. Besides, the project is financial intensive in that it will require money to purchase the accommodation facilities, the refurbishment of the accommodation lounge as well as for payment of logistic personnel such as caterer, security persons as well as the material, which are necessary in the preparation for the contest. b. Elements of the Project This project is particular in that it involves provision of special attention to the participating students in regard to accommodation to enhance their capacity to maximize on concentration, creativity as well as innovation in the contests ahead. By having the students spending in common place, the management would ensure that the students are provided with the necessary conditions for good sleeping habits, which are paramount towards excellence in the contests. This would also provide common sleeping habits to the students as a team in order to overcome some hurdles that they experience at home such as lack of fuel for study as well as unfavorable learning sleeping environment from family members and relations. The project will therefore involve provision of accommodation as well as coaching to the students towards ample preparation for the contest. c. Timeline for the Project – including intermediate check-points The first month into the project will involve consultative meetings between the school administration and the parents to the students involved. This will establish on the financial and material needs that the project will involve besides addressing on the logistic issues. Contributions will also be collected in the month to allow the preparations to commence in the first half of the second month. Students are required to report for the accommodation program the second half of the second month after which the project will be fully implemented. Student presentation rehearsals will be used as checkpoints towards the preparedness for the contests. The project will be completed after the students participate in the contest in the third month after which the effectiveness of the project will be holistically evaluated on the performance in the science contests. Works cited Akerstedt Torbjohn., WHO technical meeting on sleep and health. 2004. print. 2 December 2013 http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/114101/E84683.pdf Danner Fred and Phillips Barbara, “Adolescent Sleep, School Start Times, and Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes”. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2008. 4(6), 533-535. ‘Harvard health publications’, Sleep and mental health. 2009. Web. 2 December 2013 http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2009/July/Sleep-and-mental-health ‘National heart lung and blood institute’, In brief: your guide to healthy sleep. 2011. print. 2 December 2013 http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthysleepfs.pdf Pollard Janet. M., and Rice Carol. A., Health Hints: Sleep - Part 1. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, 2009. 13(2), 1-6. Read More