An overview of an article which originally appeared in the SHAPE PA Journal, 2025: https://issuu.com/shapepainnovation/docs/shape_pa_spring_2025_journal
Educators are rightfully concerned about student wellbeing. The rhythm of a school year affects mood, stress, motivation, and performance. Teachers notice these shifts in passing conversations. Coaches see them in practice. Counselors hear them during appointments. Although these informal observations matter, many schools now complement them with structured tools to better understand how students are truly doing.
This winter, a group of 67 students in a Strength and Conditioning course completed a battery of survey questions rooted in validated social and emotional learning research. The goal was simple. We wanted a clearer picture of how students were feeling and what might be influencing those feelings. The SELf Awareness Survey provided insight into a range of social and emotional skills. To explore the growing research on sleep and mental health, we also included items from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Carpenter & Andrykowski, 1998). Students reported their sleep and wake times and estimated their typical nightly sleep.
One question from the survey stood out. Borrowed from the Harvard Human Flourishing Study, it asked students how happy or unhappy they usually feel. It is a simple question, yet it points toward a fundamental concern in education. Happiness, or life satisfaction, is not a luxury. It influences learning, participation, relationships, and long-term health. At a time when student mental health concerns are increasing across the country (Abrams, 2022; Lipson et al., 2022; Chirikov et al., 2020), it seemed important to understand what might be supporting or limiting students’ sense of wellbeing. The survey was not designed as scientific proof, but the responses provided a useful look at the student experience and encouraged us to rethink aspects of our curriculum.
Sleep and the Happiness Response
Sleep mattered. That finding aligns with decades of research. Chronic sleep deprivation undermines emotional stability and cognitive function. Khan and Al-Jahdali (2023) describe the physiological alarm responses that develop when sleep falls below healthy thresholds. These responses include irritability, decreased attention, and impaired memory. Conversely, extending sleep has been linked with improved cognitive performance, sustained attention, and emotional steadiness (Arnal et al., 2015).
In a 2021 study using data from over 270,000 adults, Blackwelder and colleagues found that individuals who slept six hours or fewer per night were about two and a half times more likely to report frequent mental distress (Blackwelder et al., 2021). Our student data followed a similar pattern. Those who averaged 6.5 hours or fewer reported happiness scores that were about 18 percent lower than their well-rested peers.
The pattern was clear enough to confirm what many educators already suspect. The foundational physiological systems matter. Students who are under-rested struggle to access the emotional and cognitive steadiness required for daily life.
There was one unexpected detail. A small group of students who slept 6.5 hours or fewer still reported relatively high happiness. We wanted to understand what separated these students from their low-sleep peers.
Where Grit Might Fit In
When we looked across the SEL responses, one pattern stood out. Students in the low-sleep but high-happiness category reported significantly higher grit scores. Their grit scores were about 36 percent higher than others in the same sleep range. This led us to revisit the research on grit, mental health, and student wellbeing.
Grit, as defined by Angela Duckworth, is the combination of sustained passion and perseverance toward long-term goals. It is not mere toughness or blind endurance. It reflects a person’s ability to commit to something meaningful and stay engaged over time (Duckworth & Yeager, 2015).
A growing body of research connects grit with positive mental health outcomes. Musumari et al. (2018) found that college students with higher grit scores reported lower levels of depression and anxiety. Yang et al. (2022) reached similar conclusions, noting that grit buffered the negative effects of interpersonal stress. High school students with strong grit profiles demonstrated more psychosocial stability (Baylon et al., 2024). NCAA athletes with higher grit reported less anxiety during demanding periods (Howard et al., 2022). Studies by Sharkey et al. (2018), Zhang et al. (2018), Mullen and Crowe (2018), and Kannangara et al. (2018) all reinforce the idea that grit aligns with lower stress and better emotional outcomes.
Sleep represents a basic physiological variable. Grit represents a higher order psychological skill. Happiness appears strongest when the two work together.
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Grit is not a cure-all. Critics remind us that grit has been misapplied in some settings (Credé, 2018). It cannot compensate for structural inequities or replace community and institutional support. Still, the weight of the research suggests that grit is psychologically protective. It may help students maintain a sense of direction even when life becomes difficult.
Our small data set did not prove anything definitive. But it did show that within this group, grit appeared to soften the negative effect of inadequate sleep on happiness. This finding encouraged us to look at how sleep and grit combine.
The Power of Alignment
The survey results revealed that both sleep and grit correlated with higher happiness. Students with high sleep averaged 8.0 on the ten-point happiness scale. Students with high grit averaged 7.4. The most striking scores came from those who reported both high sleep and high grit. This group reported being 18.67 percent happier than the rest of the respondents, and nearly 29 percent happier than their peers with both low sleep and low grit.
These results echo the structure of the High Order Performance framework. The framework suggests that physiological stability provides the “bedrock” for higher order skills such as creativity, strong relationships, and ethical decision-making. Above this foundation sit communication quality, relational skills, and social-emotional development, including perseverance and grit. When these layers interact, individuals experience steadiness. When one or more layers falter, people become more vulnerable to stress and emotional disruption.
Sleep represents a basic physiological variable. Grit represents a higher order psychological skill. Happiness appears strongest when the two work together.
Toward a Steadiness Curriculum
Steadiness seems to be the common thread in these findings. Students who approach their days with a stable physical base and a clear psychological commitment have an easier time staying regulated. They navigate challenges with less emotional turbulence. They remain oriented toward goals. Sleep and grit do not guarantee happiness, but they appear to support it. They help students maintain the internal stability required to feel well, learn effectively, and relate to others with clarity.
If educators want to improve student wellbeing, a steadiness curriculum may be a helpful starting point. Such a curriculum could teach students to protect their sleep, build consistent routines, and develop the psychological skills associated with sustained commitment. Instead of glorifying exhaustion or praising students for sacrificing sleep, educators could emphasize grit in the service of healthy routines. Grit becomes a tool to support wellbeing rather than a badge of suffering.
A practical starting point involves asking students three simple questions.
- What are your motives and goals?
- What is currently undermining your sleep?
- Are you willing to commit to a process that prioritizes consistent sleep and wake times?
These questions encourage students to connect purpose with behavior. They also lay the groundwork for routines that require effort, discipline, and persistence. In this sense, sleep routines become an opportunity to practice grit rather than a threat to it.
A steadiness curriculum could also integrate reflective writing, discussions about athlete role models, and structured opportunities for students to examine their habits. The goal would not be to create perfection, but to help students develop the internal conditions required for higher order outcomes such as performance, character, and happiness.
If the aim is healthier students, then sleep and grit are reasonable places to start. They are not the only factors that matter, but they are factors students can influence. When environmental pressures fall outside their control, the steadiness they bring into those environments becomes even more important.
Helping students cultivate that steadiness is not simple. But it is worthwhile. The data points us in this direction. So does our experience as educators. The work begins with a commitment to understanding the whole human being and supporting the habits that allow them to grow.
References
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