Success at SRU
Publication info: Targeted News Service ; Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C]07 Sep 2018.
FULL TEXT
Slippery Rock University issued the following news:
Pardon us if we seem to be boasting, but with enrollment and campus life thriving, it seems as though any time is
a great time to be at Slippery Rock University. Technically speaking though, when is the best time to be at SRU, as
in the best time of day to take a class?
Well, there are many variables when it comes to finding that "perfect" time on a class schedule, including sleep.
"Students' first priority is choosing classes they need to graduate, but they also choose classes based on time,
convenience, their work schedule and the instructor," said Emily Keener, SRU assistant professor of psychology.
"What if people were more intentional? I think people can pay attention to their own rhythms and what is working
for them."
Keener teaches a Developmental Psychology class in which sleep patterns are a key part of understanding
adolescents and how lack of sleep can affect people's moods, development and overall wellness. According to
Keener, adolescents typically stay up later than adults and the reason is biological, not behavioral, although
staying up late staring at their device screens doesn't help.
Many elementary and secondary schools are considering recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control
and the American Academy of Pediatrics to move class start times later in the morning so students can get more
sleep and be more receptive to learning. However, research has shown that sleep patterns for adolescents extend
into young adulthood and their college years. A study conducted at the University of Nevada, Reno, claims that the
best time for college-age students to learn is after 11 a.m.
While a majority of classes at SRU start after 11 a.m., the hour of the day with the most classes scheduled, at
nearly 15 percent of total SRU classes, is during the 10 o'clock hour.
"College students are chronically sleep deprived," Keener said. "But there are so many things that affect your
alertness. It's not just sleep. Before lunch you might be hungry and distracted but after lunch you might just feel
like crashing. It's hard to say whether a 1 p.m. class is good or not, but if you know that you are up every single
night until 1 a.m. no matter how hard you try (to go to sleep), you should not take an 8 a.m. class if you can avoid
it."
At SRU, the earliest classes begin at 8 a.m. but that first hour of the day is the second least scheduled hour for
classes compared to the other hour-long windows before 5 p.m. It would also be the least active hour for class if
not for Common Hour, the 60 minutes reserved on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for university-wide meetings
and activities.
Although the University of Nevada, Reno researchers suggest optimal class times are in the afternoon or evening,
they do acknowledge personal choice as the best time and that respondents identify with different chronotypes,
such as being "evening" or "morning" people, based on their sleep patterns that influence their physical and
cognitive performance. College-aged students are twice as likely to call themselves "evening" people than
"morning" people, and the night-owl sleep habits of adolescents can continue well into a person's mid-20s. Adults
are different, however, as indicated by studies highlighted in Daniel Pink's book "When: The Scientific Secrets of
Perfect Timing," which show that fewer than a quarter of adults are the chronotype that Pink calls "night owls."
DETAILS
Company / organization: Name: Slippery Rock University; NAICS: 611310; Name: American Academy of
Pediatrics; NAICS: 813920; Name: Centers for Disease Control &Prevention--CDC;
NAICS: 923120