Your teen is not doing well at school. You blame his friends or the number of hours he works at the mall. The real reason for his poor grades could be something closer to home – the number of hours he sleeps at night.
Strong evidence shows that health and cognitive performance are intimately tied to the number of hours of sleep. This correlation is especially true for teenagers who, as a group, are most prone to sleep problems.
Why do teens need their sleep? What can you do about teen sleep debt?
Sleep is associated with Academic Performance
If your teen excels in math, chances are he is a good sleeper. According to a study presented by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, reported in the June 15, 2009 edition of ScienceDaily, research reveals that there is a strong relationship between quality of sleep and types of cognitive skills. Not only is restful sleep associated with strong academic performance, but the quality of sleep is also an accurate measure of different kinds of cognitive functions.
A study carried out at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center examined data from 56 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 who had complained about sleep problems. Participants submitted sleep diaries and academic performance to the researchers. An analysis of of their sleep patterns is also carried out using sleep actigraphs.
What the study showed was that subjects who experienced faster sleep onset, fewer night awakenings and deeper sleep quality tended to have higher math scores in school. Higher scores in English and History were also correlated with fewer night awakenings and interruptions.
Researchers state that there is overwhelming evidence that sleep is vital during the adolescent years and that more needs to be done to address the problem of teen sleep deprivation.
Sleep is Associated with Adolescent Obesity
Not only can sleep deprivation lead to poor academic performance, it can also make your teen obese. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, research shows that adolescent obesity is associated with sleep debt, caused by too much caffeine and too much time spent in front of the computer or TV.
How does sleep debt increase a teen's BMI or Body Mass Index?
Since sleep debt disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm, it affects metabolic hormones that regulate appetite. Lack of sleep reduces the hormone leptin which suppresses the desire to eat, accounting for a teens' tendency to overindulge when they are tired.
How Daylight Can Help Sleep Debt
There are ways to handle sleep deprivation, however, without the use of prescriptions. Getting your teens to sleep through the night can be as simple as getting them outdoors in the mornings.The latest research at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that timed exposure to daylight can help reset a teens' sleep cycle.
If teens take the bus to school before dawn each morning and spend their mornings in classrooms without windows, they are deprived of blue light, the short wave length rays that are intimately related to the body's circadian rhythm.
Teens deprived of this blue light for two hours after waking, when the body temperature is on the rise, often experience a disrupted circadian rhythm that delays the surge of sleep hormone in the body during the evening when they are getting ready for bed. This accounts for the sleeplessness that many adolescents experience at night.
Getting sufficient blue light two hours after waking ensures that the body's natural rhythm is in place. This means that there are certain things that teens can do to get more exposure to the blue light.
- Choose a seat by the window for all morning classes.
- Spend time outdoors in daylight during lunch break.
- Avoid excessive exposure to computer and TV light in the evenings.
- Maintain a regular exercise and eating schedule.
- Avoid excessive consumption of coffee or caffeine energy drinks.
- Maintain a regular sleep ritual or routine.
Adolescents often experience disrupted sleep patterns because of hormonal changes, increased caffeine consumption and overexposure to electronic devices like computers and televisions. Daily exposure to daylight can restore the body's circadian rhythm without resorting to medication.
Sources:
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2009, June 10). Adolescent Obesity Linked To Reduced Sleep Caused By Technology Use And Caffeine. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from ScienceDaily.com
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2010, February 27). Lack of morning light keeping teenagers up at night. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from ScienceDaily.com
Mary Desaulniers - I am a retired teacher and grandmother looking forward to the next 30 or more years with great relish and enthusiasm. My passions are ...
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