Sleep in Teens

Amount of Sleep

Research has shown that after puberty, the circadian rhythms of teenagers become delayed. Mr. Turner wrote a report about the research he did with Mary A. Carskadon at Brown University. (1) This causes them to desire to stay up later and sleep in longer. Teens need an average of 9.2 hours of sleep per night, but hardly any receive that much. (2)
A survey of 8,000 high school students revealed that they slept an average of 7.3 hours a night, with only 15 % sleeping more than 8.5 hours.(2) According to one source, 30% of high school and college students fall asleep in class at least once a week. (3)

School starting times: In response to these new discoveries, some school systems are seriously considering delaying their high school schedules, so that teens can sleep in. Should high schools make this change? It seems like there would be no way to please everybody.

What do you think? People in some Minnesota, USA, schools have had a chance to find out how it worked when they changed their starting times. Go to the next page in this section to learn the advantages some have proposed and that these schools found. Another page begins to consider possible disadvantages. Read others' opinions.

Drowsy Driving: Teenagers are relatively inexperienced drivers, making them potentially less experienced in judging how tiredness affects their driving skills or predicting traffic safety risks. Combined with the statistical probability that they may be sleep-deprived, this can lead to dangerous situations. The U.S. government has begun a public educational campaign targeting drowsy teen drivers. "Educating Youth about Sleep and Drowsy Driving," is a report from a National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR) June 5, 1998, Strategy Development Workshop. "The workshop brought together experts from the areas of adolescent sleep, driver education, high-school education, middle-school education, and curriculum development." (4)

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working with NIH's NCSDR to fight drowsy driving. Their report to Congress (5) includes attachments with some of their educational materials for youth audiences. Also, "following a workshop with educators and experts in adolescent sleep on innovative strategies for reaching school-aged youth, NIH's NCSDR is now partnering with NIH's Office of Science Education on development of a supplemental curriculum on sleep for high schools."(6)

The entire report can be viewed on our site. Here are some highlights we recommend:

• "Awake at the wheel"
• "ZZZZZZ: how much is enough?"
• "On your mark, get set, sleep"

By the time one is a teenager, REM sleep has usually been reduced to about 25%. This is probably why teens might feel that they don't dream as much as they did when younger. The fact that many teens rely on alarm clocks to wake them up in time for school means that they may have been interrupted before completing what would have been the last part of their complete "normal" sleep cycle.

Teens often listen to music, read, do homework, study, and or watch TV before going to bed.

Peru - Many teenagers will go to bed while listening to music. For the religious ones, it is still common to see many say the "Padre Nuestro" as with children. When there is a big exam coming up, or when one is studying to get into university, some fall asleep as they study. Another common thing to see, is that many read a book, either assigned from homework or as a pastime, before going to bed. Watching TV also seems to be common, more so than reading.

(1) Scarborough, Stasia. "Should schools adjust hours to fit teens' need for sleep?" The Fairfax Journal. Oct. 15, 1998. Page A16.

(2) Gordon, Jo. "Let sleeping teens lie." The Fairfax Journal. Feb. 15, 1998.Page A4.

(3) Maas, James B. Power Sleep: the revolutionary progam that prepares your mind for peak performance. New York: Villard, 1998. p. 7.

(4)This report can be downloaded or viewed with Adobe acrobat.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/sleep/prof/dwydrv_y.pdf

(5)The NHTSA & NCSDR Program to Combat Drowsy Driving. Report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, [106th Congress] Describing Collaboration Between National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Center on Sleep Disorders Research National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute National Institutes of Health., as announced in a press release from NIH, June 3, 1999. Because this is in a report to Congress, the following attachments are also in the public domain. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/news/hlb-64-99.htm; http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/perform/human/drowsy2/drdrvrep.htm

• "Awake at the wheel," NCSDR/Scholastic Magazine Educational Materials for Youth Audiences: Insert from Choices, Health Choices, and Teacher's Guide, May, 1998. URL: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/perform/human/drowsy2/att2-1.htm
• ZZZZZZ: how much is enough? Awake at the wheel. NCSDR/Scholastic Magazine Educational Materials for Youth Audiences Insert from Scope May 11, 1998. URL: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/perform/human/drowsy2/att3.htm
• "On your mark, get set, sleep," NCSDR/Scholastic Magazine Educational Materials for Youth Audiences Insert from Coach and Athletic Director May/June, 1998. attached to report to Congress. URL: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/perform/human/drowsy2/att4.htm

(6) "NHTSA/NIH combat problem of drowsy driving among fast growing populations of shirt workers and teenagers." [Bethesda] U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute press release, June 3, 1999. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/news/hlb-64-99.htm (as of Aug. 8, 1999)