Bursar’s Review

Summer 2022 www.theisba.org.uk 8 News How getting a good night’s sleep makes us more resilient Getting a good night’s sleep can help us manage our feelings and make us more resilient, according to sleep expert, Dr Jo Bower, at the University of East Anglia. Dr Bower, from UEA’s School of Psychology, researches the link between sleep, mood and mental health, examining how different aspects of sleep can influence our emotional responses. She studied people’s sleep patterns and moods through lockdown, how teenagers learn to control their emotions and regulate themselves as they cope with a ‘late sleeper’ lifestyle, and the connection between body temperature, the menstrual cycle and sleep. She said: “Instead of lying awake worrying, we’re often told to sleep on it when it comes to making decisions. But there’s actually a scientific foundation for this advice. “Sleep and mental health have a well-established relationship. Not only can sleep problems occur before mental health problems, but sleep can also influence our responses to emotional situations and help us manage our mental health. “Sleep is crucial for processing and consolidating memories from our day. When we have emotional experiences, sleep both helps us remember these events and remove the associated feelings. “This happens in a stage of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. During REM, activity in most brain regions is similar to when we’re awake. By reactivating memories during REM sleep, the associated feelings can be removed from the content of the memory. This is why ‘sleeping on it’ really can help you feel better in the morning. “Not only that, but sleep also influences our daytime responses to emotional events. Getting poor sleep makes us more likely to choose less effective ways of managing our emotions which could have a knock-on effect for our mental health. “Getting a good night’s sleep can work wonders for improving your mental health and wellbeing. But it doesn’t stop there. Sleeping well can also improve our cognition as well as several aspects of our physical health. So, if you find yourself struggling while you’re awake, now might be the time to prioritise your sleep". Dr Bower’s top tips for a good night’s sleep: 1. Maintain a consistent bedtime and wake time, even on your days off. 2. Seek out natural light in the morning and avoid blue light in the evening. 3. Avoid certain substances such as alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. 4. Allow yourself time to wind down before bed. 5. If you can’t get to sleep within 30 minutes, get up and do something you enjoy and avoid going back to bed until you feel sleepy again. School celebrates record bursary donation Bolton School is celebrating a record donation that will help level up talent and opportunity through new means-tested bursaries. Through a new partnership between the school and the youth charity, OnSide, John and Sally Roberts will support 14 pupils with means-tested bursaries, funding two Year 7 pupils a year for seven years through to completion of their A Level studies. This builds on their previous support for bursaries at the school over the past six years. The first two pupils, both members of the OnSide Network of Youth Zones, join Year 7 in September. The donation is part of John and Sally’s ongoing commitment to support more young people achieve their full potential. The bursaries are available for young people that are members of OnSide Youth Zones to support their education and cover additional expenses to ensure they benefit from all the opportunities the school has to offer. As a result of the gift, Bolton School and OnSide have established a new outreach scheme called Flourish to promote social mobility by encouraging a wider range of applications to the school’s bursary scheme. At the heart of its success is the high quality, dedicated work by OnSide’s youth workers. Philip Britton, head of foundation at Bolton School said: “We are exceptionally grateful that John and Sally have chosen to make such a transformational gift to our bursary fund. The Flourish outreach programme will ensure we can find bursary candidates with real potential, and support them to apply to the school, safe in the knowledge that there need be no barriers – financial or otherwise – to their future success". Bolton School and OnSide have established ‘Flourish’, a new outreach scheme to promote social mobility