内容摘要：Martha Dominguez came bouncing down the altar steps after an acupuncture session. Grinning, she said she had never imagined a church would offer these kinds of “benefits.”

Martha Dominguez came bouncing down the altar steps after an acupuncture session. Grinning, she said she had never imagined a church would offer these kinds of “benefits.”

, due in part to impaired judgment when the brain is sleepy.For years, sleep experts have sounded an alarm about an adolescent sleep crisis, joined by the

, the CDC and others. As a result, some school districts have shifted to later start times. Two states — California and Florida — have passed laws that require high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. But simply telling a teenager to get to bed earlier doesn’t always work, as any parent can attest: They need to be convinced.That’s why Mansfield City Schools, a district of 3,000 students in north-central Ohio, is staging what it calls “a sleep intervention.”The district’s high school is piloting the new curriculum, “Sleep to Be a Better You,” hoping to improve academic success and reduce chronic absences, when a student misses more than 10% of the school year. The rate of students missing that much class has decreased from 44% in 2021 but is still high at 32%, says Kari Cawrse, the district’s attendance coordinator. Surveys of parents and students highlighted widespread problems with sleep, and an intractable cycle of kids going to bed late, oversleeping, missing the school bus and staying home.

The students in Davis’ classroom shared insights into why it’s hard to get a good night’s sleep. An in-class survey of the 90 students across Davis’ five classes found over 60% use their phone as an alarm clock. Over 50% go to sleep while looking at their phones. Experts have urged parents for years to get phones out of the bedroom at night, but national surveys show most teens keep their mobile phones within reach — andDuring the six-part course, students are asked to keep daily sleep logs for six weeks and rate their mood and energy levels.

Freshman Nathan Baker assumed he knew how to sleep, but realizes he had it all wrong. Bedtime meant settling into bed with his phone, watching videos on YouTube or Snapchat Spotlight and often staying up past midnight. On a good night, he got five hours of sleep. He’d feel so drained by midday that he’d get home and sleep for hours, not realizing it was disrupting his nighttime sleep.

“Bad habits definitely start around middle school, with all the stress and drama,” Baker says. He has taken the tips he learned in sleep class and been amazed at the results. He now has a sleep routine that starts around 7 or 8 p.m.: He puts away his phone for the night and avoids evening snacks, which can disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm. He tries for a regular bedtime of 10 p.m., making sure to close his curtains and turn off the TV. He likes listening to music to fall asleep but has switched from his previous playlist of rousing hip hop to calmer R&B or jazz, on a stereo instead of his phone.Then there was for many the year’s biggest surprise in December. After more than 50 years of rule, the Assad family of Syria lost control of the country in the face of a lightning rebel advance. One AP photo showed a painting of deposed President Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, lay mutilated in one hall of power. Rebels waved their assault rifles above their head in a street in Damascus in another, a moment captured as they raced by on a motorbike.

Iraqi Shiites mark the month of Muharram in Karbala, Iraq, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)Iraqi Shiites mark the month of Muharram in Karbala, Iraq, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Police use water cannon to disperse ultra-Orthodox Jewish men blocking a street during a protest against army recruitment in Jerusalem on Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)Police use water cannon to disperse ultra-Orthodox Jewish men blocking a street during a protest against army recruitment in Jerusalem on Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)