That VMBO students are getting too little sleep is concerning. Getting enough good-quality sleep is very important for teenagers’ healthy development and daily functioning. Sleep has a significant influence on, for example, physical health, mental wellbeing, the ability to concentrate and, consequently, performance at school. Young people who are undergoing so much development are particularly at risk of developing poor sleep habits, for example due to extensive social media use or gaming just before going to sleep, and worrying due to performance pressure. The fact that so many factors influence these sleep habits makes promoting good sleep a complex challenge. Researchers working within the ‘Charge Your Brainzzz’ project have been studying this for more than 2.5 years. The sleep health of VMBO students is a priority in this research, because there is not yet an (educational) programme for this group, whereas one does exist for HAVO/VWO students. Group interviews with teenagers, parents, education and healthcare professionals, and policymakers identified the main factors associated with good and poor sleep among VMBO students. It became abundantly clear that it is not only the teenager themselves who influences whether they sleep well, but that the environment in which the teenager lives (e.g. at home, at school and in their digital environment) is also highly influential.
After the group interviews, several of the factors mentioned were tested in a (small) sample of 209 VMBO students (63% girls, aged 12–16).
How well do VMBO teenagers sleep?
The study showed that teenagers aged 12–16 sleep an average of 7 hours and 43 minutes, while experts recommend 9 to 11 hours for 12–13-year-olds and 8 to 10 hours for 14–16-year-olds. Around 50% of these students therefore sleep fewer hours per night than recommended. A large proportion (43%) go to sleep after 23:00 and wake up between 06:30 and 07:30.
The most frequently mentioned reason for not going to sleep on time is that they are ‘not tired’. This is striking, because although young people say they are not yet tired in the evening, a large proportion of students (53%) also report feeling sleepy during the day. These two findings indicate that students fall asleep late but have to get up early for, for example, school, and are therefore sleepy during the day. Other important reasons for not going to sleep on time are that they find it difficult to put away their screens and, consequently, social media in the evening, that they are often still doing homework, and/or that they worry about all kinds of things (homework, arguments, their future) before going to sleep.
The results come from research conducted as part of the ‘Charge Your Brainzzz’ project by, among others, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and GGD Amsterdam, in collaboration with TeamAlert, the NJI, JOGG, MIND and several other GGD regions, among the TeamAlert youth panel, and funded by ZonMw and the Brain Foundation.
Want to know more? The full report can be read here.