TEEN SLEEP CYCLE
There’s a good chance that if you have a teenager, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get him or her to wake up in the morning and get to school on time.
And believe it or not, they’re not to blame.
We adults are a large part of the reason.
Understand that teens’ brains and bodies don’t operate the same way as adults’ brains and bodies. Yet we’re forcing our kids to live our schedule, which doesn’t fit their natural biology. And as a result, we are making a society of sleep deprived, cranky and underperforming teens.
Just take, for example, 6:24 am in the McCarthy household…
“Come on Ka you have to get up,” is the typical refrain from mom Sandra.
To 16 year old kerry, the hour is downright sadistic.
“I’m pretty tired exhausted,” mumbles Kerry.
No wonder. Like all older teenagers, kerry’s body is on a different sleep cycle than that of younger kids and adults. “It usually takes me about an hour into school to be fully awake and even then I’m still not awake its too early,” says Kerry.
It is too early, according to the latest research in the journal pediatrics which followed sleep patterns through sleep diaries of incoming high school seniors like kerry. The natural biology of these older teens is to go to sleep later at night, and wake up later.
Dr. Carin Lamm, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine says, “The average teenager needs nine, 9 ½ hours sleep a night, they rarely get that.” Because of their sleep patterns, many stay up past 11…and with a 6:30 wake up time, more than a quarter of teens sleep 6 ½ hours or less.
“I know she goes to bed at a descent hour most of the time I know its just the age and the stage,” states Sandra.
Kerry believes, “I feel like if my day just started a little later I could have accomplished more.”
Because of the sleep deprivation, many teens are underperforming: 25 more minutes of sleep a night can actually mean the difference between an A and a C grade in a class. The study found teens actually perform better on cognitive and reaction time tests later in the day.
Even though Kerry is on her way to school, she’s not all there. “I’m feeling pretty tired I don’t even feel like I’m ready to be out around other people just because I’m totally not awake right now,” states Kerry.
And crankiness aside, there’s also a safety issue. “If you drive while you are drowsy, you are prone to automobile accidents,” says Dr. Lamm.
One answer, according to the authors: change the school schedule. Or else, the epidemic of sleep- deprived teens forced to fight-- and lose against biology--will continue.
The authors also say it’s important to educate teens of the importance of a regular bedtime to ensure enough sleep, although some teems may simply be not tired yet at that hour. They also argue that standardized tests should not begin early in the morning, which is typically done, but should start at 10 am or later.
And finally, parents need to recognize the very late sleeping teens on the weekends and during the summers are not being lazy, they’re following their natural circadian rhythm.
So let them sleep in!
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