EHS Experiments with "Project SNZ"

The Episcopal campus is fully engaged in an experiment so exciting the administration hopes it puts the students to sleep.
Episcopal's heightened concern about and focus on student sleep health this year began in August with conversations around At What Cost by Dr. David Gleason, a book that examines the root causes for increased levels of teen anxiety and depression, according to Doug Dickson, Assistant Head for Student Life. Two of the factors most intensely discussed were sleep deprivation and homework overload, and administrators spent the fall considering ways to address the concerns.

“In the fall, we conducted a school-wide survey to investigate students’ nightly sleep and homework patterns,” said Academic Dean Nate Ebel, who worked with Dean of Students Ashley Taylor on the survey. “We wanted to get a clearer picture of which nights they slept most or least, how much sleep they were getting over the course of a week, and to what degree their nightly homework assignments might play into the picture.”

The results, Ebel said, were clear enough to call for the School to consider what might be done to try and address the matter.

“The responses indicated that more students were losing sleep on Wednesday and Thursday due in some part to homework load and how the periods rotate during the week,” he said. “The responses also made clear that our later start on Monday made a real difference in their sleep.”

Throughout December, key administrators looked into weekly schedules at peer schools and sought other resources for ways Episcopal might address the issue. The School considered a variety of possible options, eventually settling on the current trial run schedule.

Beginning at the start of the second semester on January 30 and running through Spring Break on March 3, the weekly schedule has been adjusted in a number of key ways designed to improve the amount and quality of sleep students are getting (see bullet points below).

“Our plan is to send out a second survey to students to compare responses and data from the experiment and compare the results,” said Taylor, “and then to spend the late spring and summer considering a longer-term approach to the weekly schedule. If we are confident in our findings, we’ll seek to have a new schedule in the fall of 2018. If not, we’ll seek more opportunities for trial runs until we find the most promising approach.”

In the days leading up to the trial schedule, Medical Director Adriana Bravo, M.D., led a special meeting with the students to introduce “Project SNZ,” (read: “Snooze”) a list of guidelines and recommendations to improve sleep hygiene and the science behind why proper sleep habits are vital to health and wellness.

Additional information sessions focused on issues of sleep and health are planned throughout February.

“I do not know if we will have a new schedule next year or not," Dickson noted. "I think we need to be open to the examination of the results of what we observe this winter, engage all constituents to talk about how to move ahead, and continue to work on this issue until we find suitable solutions to make this school a place where kids can thrive and be well and healthy.”

Key changes in the EHS trial schedule, running January 30 - March 3:
  • Mondays will continue to start at 9:00 a.m., all other class days will start at 8:30 a.m. rather than 8:00 a.m.;
  • Tuesday and Thursday schedules will flip so that long blocks meet on Wednesday and Thursday;
  • A short break/meeting time before chapel and seated lunches has been added;
  • Seated Dinner will be on Wednesday rather than Monday evenings, and the attire will be casual;
  • Afternoon options will now run from 4:00-5:45 p.m., 15 fewer minutes during this trial period;
  • Quiet dorm beginning at 10 p.m. rather than 10:30 p.m.;
  • In-room time on weekdays will be 10:45 p.m. for all students.
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