Ibraheem Solaiman

English 110

Sarah Jacobson

6 December 2022

Genre 1: Email from supervisor to teachers of Health Department

Dear Staff,

As we approach the second half of the semester, the workload for everyone here will begin to pile up, and that goes for our students especially. Sleep, especially during teen years is essential to developmental health, so with that in mind, we will be having an SEL day for our students, and the health department has suggested teaching a lesson on practicing healthy sleep habits. We also ask that you print out the surveys for the students to fill out so we can have an idea of how much sleep they’re getting on average.

We’d like you to prepare a special lesson on SEL day and focus on helping students figure out better ways to manage their time. As you may or may not know, most teens are not getting the proper amount of sleep, which can severely impact their learning. After receiving feedback from students, we thought it would be a good idea to have a lesson meant to destress and promote healthier habits.

Some of the main points we’d like the lesson to cover are:

• Harmful effects of “All-Nighters”
• How consistent sleep is better for learning
• Sleep after learning consolidates information
•  Importance of all sleep stages
• Studies showing correlation between sleep and grades

Also, at the request of many students, at our next staff meeting we will suggest to the principal to assign designated days for different departments to be able to give exams and quizzes. Many students have complained about this, and we thought it’s unfair on students as many are taking a number of challenging courses. According to them it would be a good way to alleviate stress and help with time management. While it has still not been approved, it most likely will be soon, so keep that in mind if you plan on giving an exam soon.

Regards,

Ibraheem Solaiman

Genre 2: Informational Pamphlet

SLEEP DEPRIVATION

            Most students are not getting the appropriate amount of sleep. If you are a student, then you are most likely familiar with late-night study sessions. But like most students, you probably don’t realize how harmful it is to your brain, and more specifically, your ability to learn. Studies have shown evidence of sleep loss having an affect on the brain’s ability to take in new information, so as a student it is crucial that you are getting the proper amount of sleep.

LOSING SLEEP MEANS LOSING GRADES

            A study preformed on MIT students tracked their sleep patterns and their quiz grades and found a clear correlation. Those who slept less performed worse on their exams, and it was not just the quantity of sleep, but also the quality and consistency of sleep. Rather than prioritizing a good night’s rest the night before an exam, it’s more impactful to get consistent nights of sleep on the days that you learn the information.

MAKING UP SLEEP

Unfortunately, the idea of catching up on sleep is a misconception. The key to improving your sleep patterns is consistency. Especially for students, because getting adequate sleep on days when new information is learned helps the brain properly retain the information. So instead of worrying about getting a good night’s sleep the night before an exam, the priority should be getting consistent sleep leading up to the exam, and on the days that you’re studying, because your brain will be able to effectively store the information.

STAGES OF SLEEP

Sleep can be broken down into stages of NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM sleep is when our brain stores information in the “long term memory”, so if all the stages of sleep are not properly cycled through, then the ability to remember information will be significantly diminished, which is why “all-nighters” are so harmful. Missing sleep, and broken sleep, which is when the sleep cycle is interrupted, will dampen brain function, and the only way to remedy the affects is to try to get back on a regular sleep schedule.

CONCLUSION

Students, children especially, benefit the most from sleep in terms of retaining information. Yet, teenagers and young adults are in the most sleep deprived demographic, despite how important it is. It is so important to manage your time in a way to have a healthy sleep schedule, because most people don’t even realize how important it is. Healthy sleep will improve every aspect of your life.