Quebec CEGEP starts classes later for sleep-hungry students

First-year students attending CEGEP Lvis-Lauzonwill get to hit the snooze button for an extra hour this year.

The college has adjusted most of the schedules so that students start classes at 9.a.m. at the earliest, instead of8 a.m.

Denis Deschamps,academic dean for the college, said the literature shows students need eightto nine hours.And yet they tend to stay up until 11or 11:30 p.m.

"To get their eight or nine hours of sleep we have to give them a little space in the morning," Deschamps said.

Last year 70 per cent of first year students at the college had classes start at 8 a.m. three to five days a week.

This year, the number of first years with that schedule is down to 23 per cent.

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Deschamps toldQuebec AMthe project was spearheaded by a staff member who had been looking into some of the science on young people and their sleep needs.

The dean said it's not just about preventing absenteeism and late arrivals. It's also about the impact of a good sleep on learning.

"It helps students to integrate all the knowledge [they] have learned during the day."

• The scientific case for snooze buttons

The college is also expecting to a change in classroom behaviour if students are more rested and attentive.

"It cuts down on 'cyber-loafing,'you know going on Facebook, and Instagram and Snapchat and wasting your time with that," he said.

Deschamps said it will likely have in impact on the general well-being of students.

To allow for the schedule change, the amount of time between classes for some students has been squeezed to two hours instead of three.

The college will monitor the success rate and gather statistics. He said more second and third year students also have a later start time of 9 a.m.