The Charge Your Brainzzz teaching package was created to wake up sleepy students in class. This is clearly much-needed, as teenagers do not always sleep well:
- Almost half of all teenagers (44.3%) do not feel well-rested in the morning.
- 1 in 5 teenagers report feeling sleepy during the day (18.1%).
- As many as 1 in 6 teenagers even take a nap during the day (16.7%).
- Teenagers do get enough sleep (90%), but it is not always of sufficient quality. Symptoms of insomnia already begin to appear among teenagers aged 14–17.
Almost a quarter of teenagers have difficulty staying asleep when they wake up at night (24.1%), and 1 in 6 teenagers have difficulty falling asleep (16.3%).
The teaching package
The teaching package consists of three lessons using analogue learning resources in the form of games; a website, animations and a serious game in which young people have to put sleep tips into practice in a virtual environment, available at www.chargeyourbrainzzz.nl
Students learn, among other things:
- How the biological clock determines the sleep–wake rhythm and the role that (blue) light plays in this.
- How good sleep contributes to physical health, particularly brain health, and the harmful effects of too little sleep, both physically and psychologically.
- How to analyse their own sleep habits and apply tips for sleeping better.
The content aligns with the curriculum on the brain, nerves and perception in the second year of biology education at VMBO-T, HAVO and VWO level.