The Charge Your Brainzzz programme is part of the Sleep and Well-being theme of the Healthy School approach and was developed by teenagers, parents, teachers, sleep experts, scientists, municipalities and public health services.

The package consists of:

  • Teaching package for first-year VMBO students consisting of four lessons on sleep, screen use and stress to be given during tutor period.
  • Information for teachers about sleep, stress and screen use.
  • Step-by-step plan for schools with tips on creating a healthy school environment, such as adjusting communication times via Magister and changing school start times.
  • Organised parent evening with tips for parents.

The initiators are also distributing a questionnaire that will help VMBO schools find out about the sleep health and mental well-being of their students. VMBO schools that participate can win a class outing of their choice.

Good sleep and healthy stress

Hajo Krol, a youth physician at the Utrecht region public health service, recently outlined in an interview with Algemeen Dagblad that there are well-founded and growing concerns about the mental well-being of young people. Good sleep and healthy stress are crucial in this regard. Modern reality, with toxic (school) stress and the ever-present smartphone, makes this almost impossible for young people. Imagine this: a late notification on the school app about a poor grade causes stress and disrupts a night's sleep. Or think of the perfect image that social media holds up to our teenagers as something they should live up to.

Maartje van Stralen, sleep researcher and Associate Professor of Health Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, agrees with Krol that we need to make young people more resilient to stress through good education. “But as a society, we also have a responsibility to take on. The solution to improving teenagers' mental well-being must be addressed integrally and must not be placed solely on the young people themselves. Their entire living environment has a responsibility in this, so that they can grow into resilient adults.”

Van Stralen points to the school-based approach of Charge Your Brainzzz, which was developed by VU together with policymakers, municipalities, public health services, education and healthcare professionals, parents and the teenagers themselves. A central element of Charge Your Brainzzz is a scientifically substantiated teaching package.

VMBO schools that would like to learn more about the Charge Your Brainzzz approach, or are wondering whether their school can also receive support in this area, can contact Charge Your Brainzzz researcher Danique Heemskerk: [email protected]. They can read here more about previous research results.