TRANSCRIPT:
Year 12 final exams are only weeks away for students across Australia.
Student Prisha Aravindran says she's been using caffeine for late-night study sessions, which has left her nauseous and unable to concentrate.
"I went through a lot of irregularity in my sleep. I'd sleep late at night, and then I'd end up taking massive naps during the day which really messed with my productivity levels and my focus when I was awake."
Prisha's problems with sleep are no isolated incident.
Youth mental health organisation ReachOut has surveyed a thousand students and found half have trouble sleeping as a direct result of stress about study.
ReachOut's Director of Service Jackie Hallan says year 12 students are especially impacted.
"The research looked at young people aged 16-25. And we know that exams, whenever they occur, it can impact your mental health and wellbeing. I think year 12 people are putting such a lot of pressure on that time. Young people we hear feel like it’s going to impact their choices of getting into university or TAFE, and their future career options."
Doctors say year 12 students require just as much rest as their year 7 counterparts, ideally nine hours a night.
Dr Chris Seton is a Paediatric and Adolescent Sleep Expert at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.
He says that schools have not yet caught up with what is known about the sleep needs of older teenagers.
"One of the big problems in adolescents is that from year seven to year 12 - so through high school - their sleep need does not drop. And that doesn't fit with societal norms. So schoolteachers will expect year 12 kids to do more work, do more study, stay up later. And this is part of the problem with upper high school and the reason that kids in upper high school get sleep deprived. They don’t get the opportunity to get their nine hours."
Dr Seton says that problems with sleep can create a vicious cycle.
"So sleep deprivation in teenagers has a lot of mental health and physical health impacts. Mentally it depresses a teenager’s mood and heightens the likelihood of anxiety. It decreases their ability to learn because they can’t remember things, and it has flow-on effects to their behaviour. So things like cyber-bullying are a lot more common when a teenager is sleep deprived."
But it’s not just stress impacting sleep.
School Captain Beatrice Jusuf says some students have extra responsibilities, with perhaps too many extra curricular activities which cut into morning sleep or push study sessions late into the night.
"I think it's a bit hectic because with the end of year 12 there are a lot of things going on in terms of, like, graduation. And also as as a school captain there’s a lot of event organising. So there’s a lot of pressure to try to keep up with studies as well as be on top of all the events. So yeah, I think trying to be gentle with myself, so if I don't complete all the tasks that I wanted to during the day I learn that it's okay. As long as I focus on my sleep and make sure I get good hours, then the next day can be better."
For Year 12 parent Arti Gopikrishnan, it's also about putting things into perspective.
She says she likes to remind her son that while his exams are important, they are not life-defining.
"When I see him staying late, especially on continuous days, I do encourage him to actually go to bed on time and not worry too much. Because this doesn't guarantee success in life. This is not the ultimate test or anything - so encourage them to do their personal best and go to bed on time and stick to good habits."
