The Sleep Culture Among Singaporean Students
Why sleep is important and how we students can start getting more of it.
In a Youtube video titled ‘Inside Singapore’s world-class education system’, a reporter asked a Primary School student one thing he wished he could do more each day. The boy replied without hesitation that he would want more sleep.
Additionally, according to SingHealth (Figure 1), more than 60% of adolescents are sleeping less than 7 hours on school nights.
Sleep has always been a very limited resource for many of us students in Singapore. No matter whether school is vigorous or relaxing, we are regularly sacrificing sleep for academics, curricular activities etc.
Thus, with sleep often easily exchanged for more waking hours, it is imperative to find out why this is so and how this should be alleviated.
But first…do we even value sleep?
A poll was conducted on the SGExams Instagram page and among 409 responses, almost 90% of students voted that they do value sleep.
The majority of students think that sleep allows them to rest for better focus, memory retention, and a productive study session.
So, if we know the importance of sleep, why are we still lacking sleep?
How is sleep viewed?
a) Anti-sleep culture
Ever heard this mantra “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”? Well, it was a popular mantra everyone was passing around a few years ago.
It implies that you do not need sleep at all.
Unfortunately, this is wrong in all ways! No one is superhuman and everyone needs sleep.
This does not just mean you need some sleep to function but rather, a sufficient amount of sleep.
In 2012, BusinessInsider published an article titled, “19 Successful People Who Barely Sleep”. The article showed successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and more functioning on less than 6 hours of sleep.
Anyone who has read the article or even the title may get the idea that sacrificing sleep for work is a criteria to be successful, but this is totally false. Everyone requires a different amount of sleep depending on their body. There is no ‘one size fits all’ logic here whereby the successful get less than 6 hours of sleep and so must you to be equally successful.
Beware of this anti-sleep culture some people are advocating for, either directly or indirectly. It is wrong and harmful.
b) Stereotypes of sleep
There are also certain stereotypes of sleep that we often mistaken or misunderstand.
i. Sleep will never be enough.
This misconception often comes when we try to sleep more than the recommended limit, but still feel tired. Some of us can even sleep for 10–12 hours a day and still feel equally restless as someone who slept only 6 hours.
Gradually, this tiredness after sleeping so long will translate into a misconception that sleep will never be enough.
So why is this a misconception?
Truth is, there are many reasons that can explain why you would still feel tired after getting the recommended amount of sleep. Reasons such as quality of sleep or even things you do before you go to bed.
There will be a point when sleep will be enough. This is when you wake up fully refreshed and energized. However, it requires certain factors for you to be fully rested.
Some factors are getting the recommended hours of sleep, sleeping consistently at the same time, and maintaining the same number of hours every day.
ii. After a certain level of education, sleep deprivation is inevitable.
This may be more relatable to post-secondary education students as they know the heavy workload and demands required.
Be it Junior College (JC), Polytechnic, or University, as you progress through school, the workload and demands of the curriculum multiplies.
If you are getting 7 hours of sleep in secondary school, chances are, you will likely get fewer than 7 hours in post-secondary education.
However, the above statement only applies if you do not do anything about it.
What I mean by doing something is through a better system of time management and/or adopting more productive ways of completing assignments.
By adopting these strategies or skills, you would have a higher chance of getting things done and sleeping the recommended amount of hours a day.
iii. Sleep should always be sacrificed for work.
Similar to the anti-sleep culture, we often treat sleep as non-essential or lower on our priorities.
Because of this, whenever we need more awake time, sleep is almost always reduced instead of other things like gaming time.
Hence, we need to realise that we can shorten or eliminate certain activities should we need more time for assignments etc. These activities can be a shorter tea break, gaming session, or binge-watching session.
You still rest sufficiently but, just not excessively as time is running short.
iv. Sleep deprivation as essential to school experience.
The school experience can include co-curricular activities (CCAs), special school events, hall activities in universities, or just some bonding time with your classmates. These are fun and exciting experiences that you may likely get once in a while and should be treasured.
However, with more activities to do in the day, sleep is likely to be seen as less important and so shortened to make way for these experiences.
This is a misconception because you can manage your time better, go on these activities, and still get sufficient sleep. It is all about time management. Even if you have assignments to do, you can still schedule some time to complete them or even postpone your activities to another day. This day can be your weekends where you take a break or simply a day where you are more free.
As such, to gain more school experience does not mean that you will have a lack of sleep.
c) Stigmatization of sleep.
Although many students sacrifice sleep due to academic or extracurricular stress, others who do not have these stresses still give up sleep. Why? Stigmatization of sleep.
i. Guilty/Pressured when your friends are still studying and you go to bed early.
Do you feel like sleeping but can’t because your friends are still studying?
This is the feeling of many who feel guilty or pressured. By sleeping earlier than your peers, you may seem like you are not trying your best.
Furthermore, competitiveness may cause us to feel the need to be always ahead of the competition.
Therefore, you feel pressured to continue studying and this causes you to sacrifice sleep.
ii. Minimal hours of sleep as a badge of honour and to appear busy.
Even without knowing whether your friends are studying, some students may still forgo sleep.
These students see the minimal hours of sleep as a badge of honour, a sign that they don’t require the recommended amount of sleep like others do.
They may like to boast about it or simply just to appear busy but overall, they want to feel proud or special about it.
Although this is not wrong, it is always mindful that a lack of sleep has its own share of ramifications.
iii. Mocked or ridiculed.
Unfortunately, there are also a fair share of students who purposely sacrifice sleep to avoid any mockery or ridicule.
This is because of situations where students get mocked or ridiculed for meeting the most basic sleeping recommendations.
As a result, those who genuinely need more hours of sleep are embarrassed to publicly admit it — they think they are abnormal.
How then should we get more good quality sleep?
a) The right mindset
It is paramount to adopt the right attitude to work towards getting the recommended amount of daily sleep while juggling a myriad of things to do.
With the prevalence of the anti-sleep culture, stereotypes, and stigmatization of sleep, sleep is often easily sacrificed without much thought.
As such, it is important to tune your attitude towards prioritising sleep. Start by treating sleep as a non-negotiable rather than something you should sacrifice for work.
Sleep should not be easily prioritised over work just because you did not manage your time properly or had a break that was too long.
b) The right environment
With the right environment, not only would you be able to sleep easily, but you would also be able to attain high-quality sleep every night.
i. Use your bed only for sleeping.
By using your bed only for sleeping, your brain automatically associates your bed for only one function: Sleep.
Thus, whenever you lie on your bed, your brain immediately knows that it is time to sleep and prepares your body to go into sleep.
Compare this to a scenario where you use your bed for studying, reading, entertainment, and more. With your bed having so many functions, your brain doesn’t know what to do when you lie on your bed. It doesn’t know when you want to sleep, causing times where you simply can’t fall asleep.
ii. Make your room as dark and cozy as possible
How darkness affects sleep?
The absence of light promotes the production of the body’s sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. Melatonin sends a signal to the brain that it is time to sleep.
Consequently, the brain prepares itself to sleep through a few ways — muscles begin to relax, feelings of drowsiness increase and body temperature drops.
c) The right time
i. Naps
It is recommended not to nap for more than 20 minutes and after 3pm. This is because doing so may confuse your body clock into thinking that your sleeping time is in the afternoon instead of at night.
As a result, this may cause you to feel sleepy in the afternoon while awake at night.
ii. Sleep at a consistent time every night
Similar to using your bed only for sleeping, by having a consistent sleeping time every night, your body automatically prepares you to sleep when the time reaches.
This enables you to sleep quicker while gaining more sleep, even if it means only a few minutes of extra rest.
iii. Avoiding screen time near your sleeping time.
Electronic devices emit an artificial blue light that can suppress the release of melatonin.
This can disrupt your body clock and cause trouble falling asleep.
d) The right intake
i. Avoid heavy meals
Eating heavy meals near bedtime disrupts the body’s process of winding down for sleep. The digestive system has to continue running at a high capacity to digest the food before winding down.
This means your sleeping time may be delayed by a few hours.
ii. Avoid caffeine near bedtime
Caffeine is a stimulant. Consuming caffeine-containing drinks or food may cover signs of sleepiness which then results in difficulty sleeping.
Conclusion
The key takeaway I hope you get from this article is to avoid sacrificing sleep. There are a plethora of benefits from attaining the recommended amount of sleep per day.
Sleep is not just beneficial to your academics, but also your health. No matter how small or insignificant they may feel, a benefit is still a benefit and you should cherish sleep and treat it as a non-negotiable.
I hope this article helps you start the day and power through it more refreshed and happier than ever.
Keep calm and sleep well!
