Bane of Winter: H-Format Class

If you have ever had the misfortune of enduring a math class during H-format, it will come as no surprise to you that it is often dark before class has even begun. Though I have never had an academic class so late in the day, many of my friends have discussed how tired they feel during a class which ends at six. Their fatigue is not unfounded either; on top of sleep deprivation, darkness can also interfere with students’ emotions and ability to focus in class. This circadian disruption can cause problems for students with classes so late in the day.

The worst term, my friends have said, is winter term, when the sun sets between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Noticeably, when the days are shortest they may not have free time while there is still daylight.

The worst term, my friends have said, is winter term, when the sun sets between 4:30 and 6 p.m.

Access to sunlight can stave off depression and restlessness. Vitamin D, which is produced when skin is exposed to sunlight, contributes to the happiness of a person. The less sunlight someone gets, the less Vitamin D they produce and the unhappier they may feel. In fact, there is a common form of depression that is associated with how much daylight a person gets. It is called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and occurs when a person experience happiness during the spring and summer but becomes depressed during the fall and winter. Though it can be cured with Vitamin D supplements, the best way to combat SAD is through exposure to sunlight.

Daylight also plays a huge part in maintaining a circadian rhythm. Humans are generally active when there is sunlight and asleep when it is dark. Though a circadian rhythm can be manipulated, and even reversed, people tend to follow the pattern of daylight activity and nighttime rest.

For people in northern climates, this is especially true. The farther from the equator one gets, the less balanced the day-night ratio is. In parts of Alaska and Scandinavia, there may be weeks where there is no sun in the winter and no darkness in the summer. People who lived in these regions before powerful artificial light was introduced had different circadian rhythms depending on the season; they were more active during the summer and slept more during the winter. This helped them conserve energy in winter, when there was little food, and to gather as much food as possible during the summer.

Though Exeter is not as far north as Alaska or Scandinavia, it is far enough north that winter days are significantly shorter. If a student comes from California or Florida, as several of my friends do, it may be difficult for them to adjust to days with fewer than nine hours of sunlight. And late classes are no help.

At Exeter, where we spend most of our winters indoors, the passing of the day may at times go unnoticed. A person may enter a room while it is still daylight and come out fifty minutes later to find that the sun has completely set. For students with an H-format class, trying to focus on their class while also dealing with other problems—stress, lack of sleep, every other class they had that day—could cause them to feel even more stress and make them lose focus in the class anyway. A late class may not help students learn better but rather slow down their learning and could lead to lost opportunities.

It wouldn’t be wise to completely abolish the last format of the day. Most students have five core classes and a two-block sport schedule, and cutting a format out of the schedule might force students to give up their free block or electives. It might be better, instead, to group all the classes earlier in the day and have all or most sports meet during G-and H-formats. This would cause other inconveniences to appear (everyone using the fitness center at the same time is not appealing) but would make students less tired and make it a little bit easier to power through class.

Thankfully, winter term is over, and now we can all appreciate the fact that the sun doesn’t set at three in the afternoon.