La Habra High School
Do Teens Get Enough Sleep?
or ... 40 Links about "40 Winks"

Don't miss PBS' Frontline website below! The bottom line: Teens need 9.25 hours of sleep per night A Health Fact Sheet
compiled by B. De Roes
May 2003
Why do teens sleep less? | Consequences of sleep debt | Brain Research | Learn to sleep well | Lesson Plans | More Info

  1. Most teachers can report that they have known students to sleep in class. Most parents can report that their teen can be difficult to rouse in the morning, and can be overactive at night. Is this a phenomenon of teen culture or a fact of biology? The answer, of course, is "both."

    1. Teenwire: Are You Dreaming of More Sleep?
      'Do you feel comatose in first period, and sleepy after school? Do you have trouble falling asleep before midnight and then want to sleep the entire weekend away?' A brief primer.

      BIOLOGY

    2. Counseling Notes: TEENS AND SLEEP
      An early researcher, Dr. William C. Dement, Stanford University's Center on Adolescence, has studied sleep and sleep disorders since 1952. This site almost seems like an advertisement, but he may have pioneered the circadian shift theory.

    3. Lifespan: Teens in the Twilight Zone
      'This may not come as a news flash, but strong evidence supports the notion that teenagers are different from the rest of us. Cutting-edge research, done right here in Rhode Island, reveals one of the reasons they seem to live in another world: During the teen years, the body clock that rules sleep ticks on a different schedule.' One of many articles (this one is brief) about Dr. Mary Carskadon's research.

      CULTURE

    4. Discovery Health: Helping Sleep-Deprived Teens
      'In addition [to adolescent circadian shifts], they are faced with a world of evening stimulation — part-time jobs, homework, computers, televisions and electronic games in their rooms — that all conspire to delay bedtime.'

    5. WebMD: Teen Sleep Deprivation A Serious Problem
      "We live in a very fast-paced society where parents themselves skimp on sleep," she says. "So it's hard to expect one's own son or daughter to shut down the computer or turn the TV off or not call their friends if that's the family's lifestyle. And when we have expectations about the homework teenagers do and the activities they participate in, we need to take into account the fact that they need time to take care of their bodies." A longer primer.

  2. Possible consequences of lack of sleep:

    1. National Institute of Mental Health: Circadian Rhythms
      'Disruption of circadian rhythms not only affects sleep patterns but also has been found to precipitate mania in people with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness). Other types of illnesses also are affected by circadian rhythms; for example, heart attacks occur more frequently in the morning while asthma attacks occur more often at night'

    2. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
      Sleep in Youth
      • Awake At the Wheel Materials
      • Educating Youth About Sleep and Drowsy Driving
      • Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes

    3. APA: Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health
      Specific conclusions from various studies. Samples:
      • '...students who reported that they were getting C's, D's and F's in school obtained about 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed about 40 minutes later than students who reported they were getting A's and B's.'
      • '...students with later starts reported getting more sleep on school nights, being less sleepy during the day, getting slightly higher grades and experiencing fewer depressive feelings and behaviors.'
      • 'Also troubling are findings that adolescent sleep difficulties are often associated with psychopathologies such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).'
      • 'Adjusting school schedules, Lofgren says, "could do more to improve education and reduce teen accidents and crime than many more expensive initiatives."'

    4. CNN: Sleep experts to teens: Please, get your zzz's
      Lack of proper rest poses health, education risks

    5. ivillage: Wake-Up Call for Parents of Sleepy Teens
      circadian rhythm, sleep debt, Dr. Mary C., death and dismemberment

    6. about.com: Teenagers and Sleep
      Need another reason to sleep? '...hormones that are critical to growth and sexual maturation are released mostly during slumber.'

  3. Current brain research may be a good tool for convincing teens to get the right kind of sleep.

    1. Frontline (PBS): Sleep and Learning
      A goldmine, from a documentary on the teenage brain. If you can chase only one link, this is IT!
      • Adolescents and Sleep
        • The Biological Clock
        • Sleep Debt
        • Sleep, Learning, and Memory
        • Learning Good Sleep Habits
      • Interview with Mary Carskadon
        "What you see in the classroom is a sea of sleepy faces and drool on their notebooks and so forth. When we bring those kids into the laboratory, ... They start to look as if they have a major sleep disorder -- narcolepsy. ... We get them all hooked up and we do these short naps at intervals across the day.

        "And in the morning time, these kids fall asleep like that and half of them will go directly into REM sleep; and that's exactly what patients with narcolepsy do. Now, these adolescents don't have narcolepsy. But they're living under circumstances that actually make them look just as if they have a major sleep disorder."

      • Interview with Carlyle Smith
        "The other task requires some kind of new cognitive solution to the problem. This is different than the other two, and this required REM sleep. And as you saw, one of the subjects got lots of REM sleep over 100 minutes and the other got 44 [minutes], I believe. That's clearly not enough. The person who got over 100 minutes of REM sleep actually improved by 44 percent. It's remarkable -- she was much, much better the second time around.

        "The person who didn't get enough REM sleep was actually a little bit worse -- we could say, at very worst, did not make any progress beyond what they had made before. That's remarkable. There's an almost 50 percent gap, 54 percent gap between what the one did who got enough sleep and what the other did.'

      • Adolescent Sleep Needs and Patterns
        A link to the National Sleep Foundation, where you may want to download the 30 page report 'that consolidates current research on the physiological, behavioral, and psychosocial patterns of poor sleep in adolescents, and a resource guide for parents and teens with tips on how to improve their sleep habits. The resource guide also provides a summary of findings from high schools that have later start times, and a fact sheet on "drowsy driving."'
      • The REM Sleep-Memory Consolidation Hypothesis
        A link to a scientific article questioning the theory that memory is consolidated in REM sleep
      • The Stages of Sleep
        A link to a primer on the stages of sleep by a Toronto sleep clinic.
      • School Start Times Studies
        A link to some statistical analysis on the changes in Minnesota
      • The Z's to A's Act
        Legislation introduced to enable schools to try late start times.
        [link as of April 2003]

    2. Family Education Network: Early Mornings Are Tough on Teens
      More on Dr. Carskadon's research:
      • The Young and the Sleepy
      • How Much Sleep Do Teens Need?
      • Sleep Solutions

    3. Northwestern University: Teen Sleep Deprivation May Affect Behavior, Academics
      A study of 729 young people aged 12 to 17, who were admitted to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.

  4. Teens, as well as adults, can learn to sleep for longer durations and gain more of the important rest they need. Schools are trying later start times.

    1. Keep Kids Healthy: Teen Sleep Problems
      Another researcher (Dr. Richard Ferber) contributes:
      • Late Sleep Phase
      • Sleep Medications
      • Medical Causes of Sleep Problems

    2. KidsHealth, a project of The Nemours Foundation (sleep)
      Aimed right at teens!
      • How Do I Know if I'm Getting Enough Sleep?
      • Why Do I Need So Much Sleep?
      • How Can I Get More Sleep?

    3. ParentsAssociation.com: The Most Productive Third of Your Life
      'Sleep is needed to rejuvenate the body and mind. What is the most important part of sleep? Too little sleep can be very detrimental to your health.'

    4. Dream Times: THOSE SLEEPY EXCUSES FOR BAD GRADES MAY REALLY BE TRUE!!!
      'When Minnesota high schools set classes back from the typical 7:30 start to 8:30, grades went up, discipline problems went down, illness calls dropped, depression among students fell, and the students (and, oh yes, the teachers) were a happier bunch.'

    5. Family Education Network:Teens Learn Later
      Montgomery County, Maryland will experiment with later-starting school days.

    6. American Association of School Administrators: For Whom the School Bell Tolls
      A thorough layout of issues facing adminstrators who contemplate shifting school start times. March 1999

  5. Classroom lessons available:

    1. Lesson plan: Get some sleep! (CNN fyi)
      Students will be able to:
      • Explain why they need eight hours of sleep per day.
      • Determine cultural, social, and media influences that prevent them from getting adequate sleep.
      • Analyze their current waking and sleeping patterns, and create a healthier schedule.
      Meets 3 National Health Education Standards

    2. Lesson plan: A Good Night's Sleep
      Students will be able to:
      • identify factors that help promote sound sleep.
      • explain why a good night's sleep is important to their school work/career.
      • practice social skills by working in cooperative groups.

    3. Lesson plan: Sleep Today ­ No, Maybe Tomorrow (Florida GED 2002)
      Goal: To read and analyze informational text and to plan and create a classroom bulletin board or visual display.

    4. Lesson plan: Getting Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed Every Day? Examining the Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Teenagers (NY Times)
      Students will:
      • Analyze their typical daily schedules by assessing how much time they spend on different activities.
      • Learn about the effects of sleep deprivation on teenagers by reading and discussing "One Thing Missing in Teenagers' Busy Lives: Sleep."
      • Evaluate, through small group discussion, the dichotomy between teenagers' desire to get more sleep and their actual sleeping times.
      • Determine if lengthening their sleep schedules has an impact on their other daily activities by giving up "luxury" activities in order to add that time to their sleep schedule and recording the effects.

    5. Lesson plan: Adolescent Sleep (Science Netlinks)
      Goal: To discuss, summarize, and express alternative positions regarding a study on adolescent sleep.

    6. Google Search for Sleep Lesson Plans

  6. For more information:
    1. CHOC: A Wake-Up Call For Parents: Teens Need More Sleep
      Our local Children's Hospital of Orange County chimes in '"Sleep is not a luxury. It is important to all living things and essential to brain maturation. Adolescents need at least nine hours each night to feel well-rested the following day," says CHOC pediatrician Geeta Grover, M.D.'

    2. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
      The fundamentals of sleep:
      • Sleep: A Dynamic Activity
      • How Much Sleep Do We Need?
      • What Does Sleep Do For Us?
      • Dreaming and REM Sleep
      • Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
      • Sleep and Disease
      • Sleep Disorders
      • The Future
      • Tips for a Good Night's Sleep

    3. American Insomnia Association
      Not geared specifically to teens
      • About Insomnia
      • Causes of Insomnia
      • Next Steps
      • Treatment Options
      • Medications
      • Resources

    4. National Center on Sleep Disorders Research
      'Untreated sleep disorders have a profound impact nationally in terms of reduced quality of life, lower productivity in school and workplace, increased morbidity and mortality, and the loss of life due to accidents associated with excessive sleepiness. ... Medical schools typically offer less than 2-4 hours of formal undergraduate training in sleep medicine and virtually no programs designed for postgraduate development of skills in the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders. ... With the concurrence of the NHLBI Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council, the NHLBI National Center for Sleep Disorders Research announced the "Sleep Academic Award" program in 1996 to improve the quality of medical and community education directed at controlling sleep disorders. ' California's location is at Stanford University.

    5. KidsHealth, a project of The Nemours Foundation (anxiety)
      A cause of insomnia.
      • What Is Anxiety?
      • Understanding Anxiety Disorders
      • Why Do People Get Anxiety Disorders?
      • How Are Anxiety Disorders Diagnosed and Treated?
      • Dealing With an Anxiety Disorder

    6. KidsHealth, a project of The Nemours Foundation (caffeine)
      Caffeine chemically induces sleep disturbance.
      • What Is Caffeine?
      • Got the Jitters?
      • Moderation Is the Key
      • Cutting Back

    7. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Narcolepsy Information Page
      'a disabling neurological disorder of sleep regulation that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness'
      • What is Narcolepsy?
      • Is there any treatment?
      • What is the prognosis?
      • What research is being done?

    8. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Restless Legs Syndrome Information Page
      'a sensori-motor (movement) disorder characterized by uncomfortable sensations in the legs'
      • What is Restless Legs Syndrome?
      • Is there any treatment?
      • What is the prognosis?
      • What research is being done?

    9. Sleep for Science (Brown Medical School)
      The website of the recent leader in teen sleep research, Dr. Mary Carskadon, includes a link to her book: Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and Psychological Influences, edited by Mary A. Carskadon, Ph.D., also available from amazon.com

    10. BBC: Late Nights and Laziness
      Not just an American issue...

    11. parent-teen.com: Wake Up, Sleepy Teens!
      Some statistics from a 1997 study of 3,120 Rhode Island teenagers conducted by Carskadon.

    12. Better Sleep Council: Fact Sheet: Teens and Sleep
      Here's a thorough compilation, from 1994, including Dr. Mary C. again.

    13. askEric: School Start Times
      Other links to research on delayed school start times.

    14. Google search on "teen sleep"