ABSTRACT
Classroom learning requires a broader set of faculties than simply memorising information. The resulting short sleep during the school week leads to a connected phenomenon known as ‘social jetlag’, in which sleep-deprived adolescents are sleeping in later on the weekends in order to recuperate the sleep that they have missed during the week. Neuroscientific research demonstrates that during sleep, when the brain is freed from the busy functioning of the waking hours, newly acquired information taken on through the day is reactivated and redistributed through the brain. Late or excessive caffeine consumption during the day, particularly in the afternoon or evening, leads to difficulty falling asleep later that night and more disrupted sleep once it is achieved. Sufficient sleep affords better appetite control, leaving teens less likely to crave fatty snacks and carbohydrates, as well as providing more energy and more motivation to exercise, veering away from sedentary activities.
