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A one-week sleep diary
Students keep a seven-night sleep diary — bedtime, wake time, hours, how rested they feel and their evening screen use — then look for their own patterns. Uses the recommended 8–10 hours for teenagers as the reference.
Learning objectives
By the end of the activity, students can:
- Record their own sleep over a week and estimate hours slept.
- Compare their sleep with the recommended 8–10 hours for teenagers.
- Identify links between evening habits (screens, caffeine, late nights) and how rested they feel.
- Suggest one realistic change to their own routine.
The activity
- Introduce (10 min): teenagers are generally recommended 8–10 hours of sleep. Discuss why sleep matters for learning, mood and sport, and how a consistent wake time steadies the body clock.
- Set up (5 min): model the first row of the diary together and agree how to estimate bedtime and wake time.
- Home task (1 week): students fill one row each morning.
- Review (next lesson): use the reflection questions; look for the link between screens/late nights and the "how rested" score.
The worksheet
This prints as a clean sheet — press print and the site header, footer and this instruction row drop away. Photocopy for a class as needed.
Fill in one row each morning for a week. Estimate to the nearest quarter hour — it does not need to be exact.
| Night | Went to bed | Woke up | Hours slept | Rested? (1–5) | Screens in last hour? (Y/N) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | |||||
| Tuesday | |||||
| Wednesday | |||||
| Thursday | |||||
| Friday | |||||
| Saturday | |||||
| Sunday |
1. What was your average number of hours? How does it compare with the 8–10 hours recommended for teenagers?
2. On the nights you felt most rested (4–5), what did your evening look like?
3. Did screens in the last hour link to how rested you felt? What did you notice?
4. Write one realistic change you could make to your evenings, and why.
Assessing this activity
This resource is open-ended and has no single correct answer. Assess it on the quality of reasoning and evidence rather than a fixed key — the teacher notes below explain what a strong response looks like.
Teacher notes
- This is descriptive, not diagnostic. If a student's diary suggests a persistent sleep problem, the right step is a supportive conversation and, if needed, signposting to the school nurse or a GP — not advice from the worksheet.
- A fixed wake time (even at weekends) and morning daylight are the two changes with the biggest payoff; steer suggestions there rather than towards gadgets.
- Cross-links to biology (circadian rhythms) and PSHE (healthy routines). Keep it blame-free — late nights are normal, and the point is noticing the effect.
A teaching resource, not medical or dietary advice. Handle food, sleep, sugar and energy topics sensitively with young people, and follow your school's pastoral and safeguarding procedures if a pupil raises a concern.
Frequently asked questions
What level is this for?
Suits lower-secondary science, PSHE or health.
Can I print and photocopy it?
Yes — press print (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and the site chrome disappears, leaving the worksheet. It is free for classroom use.
Is there an answer key?
This resource is open-ended, so there is no single answer key — the teacher notes explain how to assess it.
Source: Standard public guidance (EFSA reference values, EU labelling rules, Atwater energy factors) and simple arithmetic · checked 2026-09-02
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Take the tracking activities further
The step-challenge and sleep-diary activities carry straight into TempoLife, a free habit tracker students can keep using after the lesson.