for school. But it’s been fifteen minutes since his alarm went off and the silence from his room is deafening.
Why is your teenager desperate to squeeze out every possible second of sleep in the morning? The answer may be that he’s not getting the sack time he needs.
Teenagers are notorious for going to bed late and then complaining of exhaustion when it’s time to get up for school. Far from dismissing this fact as mere laziness many sleep researchers now believe this behavior has biological foundations and that a natural part of adolescent development includes a shift in circadian rhythms, the internal system that governs when we feel sleepy and when we feel awake.
“Several studies indicate that teens need about nine hours of sleep. In addition to the higher need for sleep, their circadian clock is also changing, so that they become more ‘owl-like’—they are more alert and energized in the evening, sometimes with difficulty falling asleep and having great difficulty waking up in the morning for school,” offers Dr. Phyllis Zee, professor of neurology and neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University in Chicago. Recently Dr. Zee conducted a study on the effects early school start times had on teenagers’ sleeping habits at an Evanston, Illinois high school.
According to the National Sleep Foundation (www.sleepfoundation.org) this evening energy surge means teenagers find it difficult to get to sleep before 11 PM. Early school start times compound the problem of teen sleeplessness, as getting to class on time means teens are waking in the middle of their periods of most intense sleep (between three and seven am) and operating on six and seven hours of rest, a number well short of the eight-and-a-half to nine hours recommended.
Teenagers’ propensity for late-night eating, socializing and TV also contributes to the problem of insufficient rest.
“This change in circadian rhythms is biological, but of course can be influenced by behaviors like exposure to bright light in the evening, eating late—all which can contribute to later bedtimes. With the change in their natural biological timing to a later time, having to wake up early for school results in sleep loss and impairment of function,” says Dr. Zee.
Irritability and moodiness, poor concentration and mediocre academic performance may indicate that your teenager isn’t getting enough sleep. The fact that extreme fatigue impairs cognition is of particular concern to experts and researchers when so many teenagers are driving. “In studies of young adults, prolonged sleep deprivation has been compared to alcohol on performance measures,” states Dr. Zee.
Teen Beat:
While you can’t alter a teenager’s natural rhythms, you can make a dent in your adolescent’s sleep debt by gradually imposing a regular sleep-wake schedule. The challenge of creating this schedule is to create conditions that ‘trick’ teens’ internal clocks.
Dr. Zee recommends sleep-hungry teens:
- Avoid bright light—light signals wakefulness to the brain.
- Refrain from indulging in heavy meals and stimulating activities after nine PM—that means no TV, computer games, loud music or marathon telephone calls.
- Get sufficient exercise during the day, which is another way to encourage fatigue.
- For more information check out the National Sleep Foundation’s report on Teens and Sleep available on its website (www.nationalsleepfoundation.org).
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