Illustration of a nap room set up in a school

RJ Matson

Should You Nap at School?

Kids across America aren’t getting enough sleep. Are naps at school the solution?

By Mackenzie Carro

From the September 2024 Issue

Learning Objective: to read and analyze a text that presents arguments on both sides of a debate, then take a stand

Lexile: 880L

Featured Skill: Argument Writing,

Other Key Skills: identifying central ideas and details, evaluating an argument, using text evidence

Listen to this debate read aloud.

It’s only third period, and you’re already sleepy. Your eyelids feel as heavy as elephants, and your head won’t stop bobbing. You pinch yourself to keep your bleary eyes open. But a few moments later, you start to nod off again.

Sound familiar?

If so, you’re not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), about 80 percent of kids and teens are not getting enough sleep.

But what if the next time you got sleepy at school, you could stretch out in a quiet place for a refreshing nap? That’s exactly what students at several high schools in New Mexico get to do. Sleepy students go to their school’s nap pod—a special chair designed for a quick snooze. After 20 minutes of shut-eye, they return to class refreshed and ready to learn.

The nap pod program has been hailed as a big success by health professionals at the schools.

Should your school try it?

A Big Problem

You need between 8 and 10 hours of sleep each night to stay healthy. Yet only 20 percent of kids and teens are getting that, according to the NSF.

And that’s a big problem. Lack of sleep impairs memory and concentration, making it harder to learn. It also increases the risk for depression and anxiety.

So why are teens so exhausted?

Screens are one reason. TVs, tablets, and phones emit a type of light that makes your brain stop producing melatonin, a chemical that helps you feel sleepy. That’s why even if you stop scrolling at 10 p.m. and head to bed, your brain won’t be ready for sleep until a few hours later.

There is another reason many teens are tired all the time. As you enter adolescence, your body’s internal clock shifts. Suddenly, you feel like going to bed several hours later than you did when you were younger. As a result, you want to wake up later too.

And that’s a problem on school days. Most middle and high schools in the U.S. start very early, around 8 a.m. So you have no choice but to get up early—no matter how much sleep you get.

Napping Around the World

Daytime rest breaks have been a part of some cultures for centuries.

Italy

Many Italian businesses close for a 2- to 3-hour rest called riposo.

China

In China, lunch breaks include time for wujiao, a “lie-down,” or nap.

Spain

Workers and students in Spain often head home for an afternoon siesta.

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More Productive

So is taking a nap at school the best solution to teens’ tiredness?

Maybe. Maybe not.

If students nap during the day, will they miss too much class and fall behind? And could having the option to snooze at school mean kids will stay up even later at night? After all, if you know you’ll be able to take a nap at school the next day, you might be tempted to stay up even later the night before.

Then there is the concern that napping at school doesn’t prepare students for the future. After all, adults can’t just doze off at work, right?

Actually, some can. Companies like Google and Nike encourage napping for the same reason the schools in New Mexico do: Napping can make tired people more productive.

Supporters of snoozing at school say that short naps won’t cause students to fall behind. A 2018 study from the University of Delaware found that taking short naps during the week improved teens’ attention, reasoning, and memory. In other words, naps could help students perform even better in school. Of course, that’s assuming students don’t start using naps to regularly get out of a class they dislike.

No Replacement

RJ Matson

There’s no doubt that napping has benefits. It can’t replace a good night’s rest though. That’s because when we sleep at night, our bodies go through several sleep cycles, including one phase of very deep sleep. Short naps don’t include this deep sleep, which makes them less restorative.

What’s more, napping won’t solve the problem of why teens are so wiped out to begin with. According to sleep expert Dr. Shalini Paruthi, rather than relying on naps, schools would ideally start later to better align with teens’ sleep tendencies. That way, more students might show up to school well rested in the first place.

But until then, a cozy nap pod certainly sounds better than falling asleep at your desk.

What Do You Think?

Should teens get to nap at school?

Go back to the article and find three arguments for “yes” and three arguments for “no.”