Tracking healthy habits in Wellness

According to the CDC, teenagers between 13 and 18 years old should sleep eight to 10 hours a night. In practice, however, most teenagers at Harpeth Hall would say they get significantly less sleep. In Buffy Baker’s wellness class, she aims to inspire students to reflect on their own sleep habits and plant a seed for a lifetime of personal wellness with the “21-Day Sleep Project.”

“It is pretty remarkable what some of the students reflect upon, what they start to see. They say how much happier they feel after the challenge,” Coach Baker said. “What it does, which is the really cool part, is that one good behavior starts to bleed into another good behavior.”

Throughout the project, students are tasked with tracking, logging, and reflecting on their sleep for three weeks to build awareness of behavior, establish patterns, and implement positive changes.

“It is building an understanding of how we spend our time,” Coach Baker said. “We prioritize what is important to us.”

Tracking sleep habits is not the only challenge Coach Baker sets her students. Throughout the years, she has also had students track hydration levels and screen time. For the students, the results have been eye opening. For many, they return to the class semester after semester to continue to track and push themselves to become aware of their habits and how it impacts their mental health and wellness.

After completing the challenge, students talk about how they can focus better in class, feel better physically, and are generally happier. Coach Baker understands that the habits they develop during the challenge may not stick with them immediately, she hopes that they are learning how good behaviors can serve them well in day-to-day life.

“It became apparent when I had them in class that there were a couple of things that were no-brainers to me, like adequate sleep and hydration. If I could help the girls establish good habits for themselves, then the way they go through their day could be improved just a bit,” said Coach Baker. “It is controllable. You can't control your teachers, you can't control your family member, you can’t control what someone else does, but these are controllable things you can do that are helpful to how you go through your day.”