Sleep: An Important Part of Quality Teaching

The number of studies documenting the importance of sleep has only increased through the years. Getting inconsistent sleep can not only affect your alertness and the quality of your teaching the following day but can harm your health.

Chances are you know this without reading lots of academic papers. You know how loss of sleep makes you feel, but when we’re overwhelmed with adjusting to new forms of teaching, new technology, and new strategies for engagement, as so many teachers have had to do in 2020, getting to bed at our scheduled time can drop off our priority list. Even if you do get to your bed, your brain may still be running through your to-do list or thinking about how to best support specific students.

But the bottom line is this: teachers need consistent, quality sleep to be consistent, quality teachers. If warm chamomile tea or some light reading before bed aren’t helping you completely settle in for nighttime, maybe one of the following apps can help.

Calm offers music, soundscapes, and ‘sleep stories’ to help you quiet your mind and drift off to sleep. Calm offers sleep stories on a variety of topics and many are read by recognizable names including Matthew McConaughy and Levar Burton. Along with a free trial offering full use of the app and website, Calm offers several free resources, including some sleep stories and meditations, here.

Headspace offers both what they call ‘sleepcasts’ to help you fall asleep and a 30-day sleep course full of meditations to do during the day to help you change your relationship with sleep in the longterm. Headspace says that adjusting your mindset during the day directly connects to how you fall asleep at night. You can hear a bit more about Headspace’s approach to sleep and experience a sample here. Headspace also offers free memberships to K-12 educators.

Sleepio begins by getting to know your sleep and patterns and goals through a short quiz, then assigns you a sleep score and report. Sleepio gives you a couple immediate tips to specifically help your sleep situation before offering you options for a full sleep improvement program. Even if you do not pursue a full program, Sleepio will email you tips and resources on improving your sleep.