33% of middle, high school students sleepy during day

(Oct. 22, 2009)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Thirty-three percent of the nation's middle and high school students feel very drowsy in the daytime, according to a nationwide survey conducted by a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study group.

As sleepiness in daytime is known to diminish learning efficiency and harm health, the survey's results suggest that such students need to be educated about matters such as the importance of getting enough rest. The survey on students' sleep and daily habits was conducted on students at 239 middle and high schools across the country, and about 87,000 students from 168 schools responded.

The results will be reported at the Japanese Society of Sleep Research's meeting in Osaka, scheduled to start Saturday.

The group, led by Prof. Takashi Oida of Nihon University, evaluated sleepiness using an international measurement.

Thirty-three percent of the respondents said they felt very sleepy during the day, evidenced in such behavior as "drowsing while sitting and talking to someone or reading." Twenty-eight percent of boys and 38 percent of girls gave this answer.

By grade, the highest percentage of sleepy students were first-grade high school students, with 36 percent of boys and 45 percent of girls reporting feeling drowsy during the day.

Going to bed late and long commutes were the main causes of daytime sleepiness, according to the survey results.

"More students than we expected feel sleepy in the daytime. As first-year high school students experience a major change in their [educational] environment, we assume this may cause their sleepiness," said Yoshitaka Kaneita, a member of the group and an associate professor at the the university. "We'd like to use the results for health education by identifying the factors that cause daytime sleepiness."