Sleepy Teens: National Sleep Foundation Poll
Well, today was the release of the National Sleep Foundation's Sleepiness in America poll, and its main focus was on teens. There were some very interesting findings:
Among those adolescents who report being unhappy, tense and nervous, 73% feel they don't get enough sleep at night and 59% are excessively sleepy during the day.
As amazing as it may seem that our teens today do not get enough sleep think back to when you were the same age. Why I remember staying up late and then having to wake early for school.
The reason this sounds so familiar is because we all did the same thing. Of course now we appear to know some of the reasons why this may happen, teens characteristically have a phase delay in their sleep. What does this mean? Well, their sleep phase or biological clock will shift a bit later and they will likely want to sleep at midnight until about 9am. Sound familiar?
This is likely one of the main reasons we see these results today. So what can be done about it? Here are a few tips:
For more information, read my article here on WebMD: Back to School, Back to Sleep
Related Topics: Is Your Lifestyle Ruining Your Sleep?, WebMD Video: What's Your Sleep Personality?
- At least once a week, more than one-quarter (28%) of high school students fall asleep in school, 22% fall asleep doing homework, and 14% arrive late or miss school because they oversleep.
- Adolescents who get insufficient amounts of sleep are more likely than their peers to get lower grades, while 80% of adolescents who get an optimal amount of sleep say they're achieving As and Bs in school.
- More than one-half (51%) of adolescent drivers have driven drowsy during the past year.
Among those adolescents who report being unhappy, tense and nervous, 73% feel they don't get enough sleep at night and 59% are excessively sleepy during the day.
- More than one-quarter (28%) of adolescents say they're too tired to exercise.
- Sixth-graders report they sleep an average of 8.4 hours on school nights, while 12th graders sleep just 6.9 hours - 1.5 hours less than their younger peers and two hours less than recommended (9 hours). In fact, by the time adolescents become high school seniors, they're missing out on nearly 12 hours (11.7) of needed sleep each week.
As amazing as it may seem that our teens today do not get enough sleep think back to when you were the same age. Why I remember staying up late and then having to wake early for school.
The reason this sounds so familiar is because we all did the same thing. Of course now we appear to know some of the reasons why this may happen, teens characteristically have a phase delay in their sleep. What does this mean? Well, their sleep phase or biological clock will shift a bit later and they will likely want to sleep at midnight until about 9am. Sound familiar?
This is likely one of the main reasons we see these results today. So what can be done about it? Here are a few tips:
- Have your kids wake at the same time every day. Regularizing their sleep schedule is important for their biological clocks.
- Contact their teachers and see if they are falling asleep in school. Look at their report cards, if they are doing more poorly in the classes that coincide with their 1st 2nd or 3rd periods, you could have a phase delay on your hands.
- Make their bedroom environment conducive to sleep, try not having a TV or video games in there and have them "wind down" before bed, relaxing and reading to set the tone for a good nights sleep.
For more information, read my article here on WebMD: Back to School, Back to Sleep
Related Topics: Is Your Lifestyle Ruining Your Sleep?, WebMD Video: What's Your Sleep Personality?
5 Comments:
One-third of all adult Americans--about 50 million people--complain about their sleep. Some sleep too little, some fitfully, and some too much. Although one-third of our lives is spent asleep, most of us don't know much about sleep, not even our own. We don't even know exactly why we sleep, other than--like an overnight battery recharge--sleep promotes daytime alertness. Sleep problems profoundly disturb both sleeping and waking life.
Some useful resource to help you out from all kinds of sleep disorders
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
http://www.sleepdisordersguide.com
http://www.stanford.edu
http://www.neurologychannel.com
Thank you for you article Dr. Breus. My son has been having difficulty at school falling asleep and paying attention. I was amazed at how many children seem to have this problem. You have really opened my eyes.
I myself am a teenager, and I've discovered that the only way to get enough sleep is to go to sleep earlier. Some of us are so used to waking up at a certain time that when it is the weekend, we still can't sleep in. Lack of sleep not only causes problems with grades, but also causes irritability, illness, and feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
I am also a teenager. I am in my sohmore year of highschool. I am in three honors classes and in 3 other classes which require alot of dedication to work. I am a straight A student. I found that doing all the homework I get and the studying that I have to do, I get about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I have to wake up around 5:30 to get ready for school. It is truly impossible to get to sleep early because I have tried to just lay in my bed and go to sleep, but nothing has worked out. Since my bus comes around 6:10, it is truly difficult to even say I can sleep in. I don't get home til 3:20 and I start doing homework and studying right away, with 30 minutes for dinner and 30 minutes for a shower. I still find myself going to sleep at 11 or 12. I feel as if the teachers should be giving less homework and I'm not just saying that because I am a student. Over half of my bus is doing homework or studying because they actually try to get a good sleep, but instead end up not doing homework. I have an hour bus ride both ways, and even trying to catch up on sleep then it is difficult. Since I am used to going to sleep around 11-ish, even on weekends I don't go to sleep until then and wake up around 10-ish. Ik that this is very unhealthy, but atleast all my homework gets done, I am always energized, always have energy to exercise, I get good grades, and don't sleep in class. Just because I can do it, doesn't mean over half of the students at my school cannot. I feel that school systems need to be looking at the study/work load that they give their students.
Thank you for this article, it helps alot!!! Maybe there is a way for someone to reach out to these schools and make them understand what they are doing to these students! Not even the law to start school later would help because then we would go end later, which would make all extra curricular activities to end later. Then we would have even less time to do homework, and go to bed even later. I feel that things need to go different in school systems w. amounts of homework. (yes i do know that it will prepare me, etc., but look at your kids, grandkids, etc. they r sleep deprived!!!!)
i'm a sophmore in high school and i go to bed around midnight or so and get up around 9 a.m. then midday or afternoon, i take a 2-3 hour nap. is this healthy??????
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