Lack of Sleep May be Hurting Your Teen: Here’s What to Do About It
If you are not new to this site, you know that I often talk about how sleep-disordered breathing prevents proper sleep. Today, I would like to talk about a few other causes of poor sleep, especially in children and especially teens, as they normally have earlier school start times. According to numerous studies, people, including children and teens, who sleep less than five hours per night are more vulnerable to respiratory infections. But the bad news doesn't end there. Poor sleep can eventually lead to certain forms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, depression and other mental disorders, and obesity. 2
Chronotypes: Night Owls, Teens, and Poor Sleep
High school students who slept only six hours suffered an increased risk of common illnesses, including cold, flu, gastroenteritis, and other common infectious diseases. 3 Their chronotype may be a big factor. Chronotype refers to an individual's preferred sleep-wake schedule; we are either morning or evening chronotypes or somewhere between. Evening types like to go to bed late and sleep late; morning types go to bed early and rise early. Sleep deprivation is much more common in evening chronotypes, the so-called night owls, because school and work prevent extending sleep in the morning, cutting the duration of sleep.
Double Trouble: Teen Sleep and School Start Time
Research has proven that adolescents need nine hours of sleep, shift to evening types, and revert as they age. 4 So teens who stay up late are not trying to be disrespectful; they are following their biology. Sadly, evening-type adolescents exhibit more anxious and depressed symptoms than morning-type adolescents. Evening-type adolescents are at higher risk for suicidality, have a higher incidence of aggressive and delinquent behavior, and are more likely to have problems in the clinical/borderline range. 5
Numerous studies have shown that delaying school start times result in multiple benefits for the students, regardless of age. Attention level improves, reaction times improve, tardiness decreases, attendance improves, mood improves, less illness occurs, depression improves, caffeine consumption goes down, students are slimmer, and academic performance improves. 6 Since our school system refused to have later start times, we decided to drive our children to school to allow for an extra hour of sleep in the mornings. It was more work for us, but our children were more alert, did better academically, and had energy for sports, homework, and socializing.
Sleep, Car Accidents, and Death
The CDC claimed in 2009 that over 35% of Americans sleep less than seven hours. As I mentioned before, teens are included in the statistics. Shockingly, 4.7% of the people in the CDC study reported nodding off or falling asleep while driving in the preceding 30 days! One thousand five hundred fifty deaths resulted. 1
The leading cause of teenage death is automobile accidents. 7 A 2008 study noted that delaying school start time resulted in a 16.5 % decrease in auto accidents. 8 Another similar study showed students had a 14% lower chance of auto accidents. 9 An extra hour of sleep can literally save your teenager’s life.
ADD/ADHD and Sleep
According to the CDC, the prevalence of ADHD in America is over 6%, and it is getting worse every year , and the prevalence of sleep disturbances in individuals with ADD/ADHD is somewhere between 25% to 62%. 10 Current guidelines recommend the assessment of sleep disturbance during the evaluation of ADHD and promoting healthy sleep practices as the first-line option. Sleep disorders should be ruled out before initiating ADHD medication because the effects of sleep deprivation can either mimic or cause ADHD. 11
Sleep, Breathing, and Other Behavioral Problems
According to research by Karen Bonuck, inadequate or poor-quality sleep in early childhood impairs social-emotional and cognitive function via effects on the developing brain. In addition, it increases obesity risk via hormonal and endocrine effects. The prevalence of short sleep duration, behavioral sleep problems, and sleep-disordered breathing among children aged 3 to 5 years is 20% to 50%. 12 I have written about sleep-disordered breathing and how it affects behavior and health here and here if you want more information.
How Teens Can Sleep Better
1 Dedicate eight hours to sleep-naps are ok
2 Relax one hour before bed-do not do anything vigorous or that requires too much thinking
3 Avoid caffeine, especially after lunch
4 Avoid electronics, especially before bed and use the blue light filter feature
5 Sleep in a cool room
There are many more things that can be done to help get a good night’s sleep. Sleep hygiene is everything we should be doing to optimize sleep. Sleep Foundation has a great article on sleep hygiene that I recommend. Their article is very detailed, but in summary, it involves everything we should do to optimize our sleep that will only take about five minutes to read.
Additional Motivation to Sleep Well
I have certainly mentioned enough problems that can arise from poor sleep. Author Matthew Walker lays out the scientific proof in his book Why We Sleep that poor sleep leads to certain forms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, depression, mental disorders, and obesity. I recommend you read it; he lays out all of the destructive results of poor sleep, all cited with scientific research. I was so shocked at the problems caused by lack of sleep that it left me never wanting to miss even one hour of sleep again. Unfortunately, sometimes schedules don’t allow for consistent sleep. I have had a busy schedule of conferences, travel, night meetings, and a vacation. I missed out on sleep several nights during that time. As a result, I got my first cold in about five years. Contrary to popular belief, we can’t “catch up on sleep.” Consistent good sleep should be a priority if you want to remain healthy.