Sleep Health Curricular Resources
This is a curated list of resources for classroom teachers. Resources on this list have been vetted by the Let’s Sleep! team of health writers, researchers, and educators. These resources can be used for in-class activities in health or homeroom classes, in driver’s education programs where drowsy driving risks are addressed, and, where appropriate, as the foundation for term papers and other extension activities.
Sleep 101 is a 30-minute online sleep health education course for grades 7-12 featuring engaging games, videos, and interactive activities. The course addresses such topics as caffeine use, drowsy driving, sleep’s effect on health, mood, and school success, and whether it’s worth it to pull an “all-nighter.” The program is currently offered at no cost to teachers and can be an ideal homework assignment or in-class activity.
More information: https://sleep101.letssleep.org/
Sleep Health Curriculum Standard Guide
Want to find sleep health resources that meet a curricular standard in your state? Or want to see if a particular Let’s Sleep! activity satisfies a state requirement?
Check out this very helpful and easy to use tool that easily sorts through over 1,000 pages of state standards across 49 states and DC (includes all except Nebraska). You can search by either state or activity.
The guide includes both Let’s Sleep! original sleep health resources as well as sleep health curricula created by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and covers grades K-12.
URL: https://letssleep.org/curriculum-guide
This guide was created through a grant from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2021-2022.
The Let’s Sleep! Student Website
The Let’s Sleep! student Learning Center for students features individual activities from Sleep 101 broken out by category and accessible from a drop-down menu or an interactive hyperlinked image of a student study area. These activities are individually accessible and give students an opportunity to explore freely the topics that are also covered in Sleep 101.
URL: https://letssleep.org/Students/
The National Organization for Youth Safety provides resources about teen drowsy driving including a classroom lesson, a skit, a fact sheet, and more. The link to the site’s “Teen Lane” with videos, programs, and contests related to drowsy driving is currently not active (January 2021).
URL: https://noys.org/programs/injury-prevention/drowsy-driving
AASM Annual Video Contest and Sleep Lesson Plans
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) runs an annual video contest with awards up to $1,000 for students who make brief videos (15-60 seconds). The 2021 theme is “Sleep is Essential.” Winning videos for the past several years are featured on AASM’s website.
The AASM also provides sleep-focused, age-appropriate lesson plans for K-12 teachers. Topics include drowsy driving, snoring, animals & sleep, and insomnia. The high school curriculum links to information from the National Institutes of Health and also provides background on a variety of careers in sleep medicine.
The site also provides children’s books with an accompanying reading app, a classroom poster and infographic, and sleep facts.
Video Contest URL: https://aasm.org/advocacy/high-school-video-contest/
Sleep Lesson Plans URL: http://www.school.sleepeducation.com/
The National Institutes of Health provides curricular materials for high schoolers that address the science of sleep, the importance of sleep hygiene, and the negative consequences of sleep deprivation.
URL: https://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/webversions/SleepDisorders/default.htm
This YouTube channel includes brief animations about sleep and safety, problems sleeping, sleep and mood, and sleep’s relationship to the immune system. The channel also includes short videos of sleep experts talking about how sleep and health are related and about academics and sleep.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcLoioZmtI37EC9ubN8NdVQ
These are videos recorded at the 2017 “Adolescent Sleep, Health, and School Start Times” national conference. Renowned physicians, scientists, and educators give scientifically accurate and engaging presentations about various aspects of adolescent sleep. Each video is accompanied by a brief description and a biographical note about the speaker; eight selected videos also have accompanying discussion questions as prompts for classroom activities or individual assignments. Appropriate for high school through college AP level; ideal for extension work for honors classes, or for term paper assignments.
URL: https://sleep101.letssleep.org/conferencevideos/
An Award-Winning Interactive Sleep Education Program for Teens
