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If your teen tunes out and seems
to be sleepwalking, there may be a good reason for it. Teens today
are not getting enough sleep.
In 1999, a National Sleep Foundation
survey on Sleep in America reported that 60% of children under 18 reported
being constantly tired, and 15% said they had fallen asleep in class.
This constant fatigue can affect
teens' mental state and behavior, according to an article from the
Loyola University Medical Center Injury Prevention Program. The
article referred to the NSF Study and stated: "Lack of adequate sleep slows reaction
time, causes lapses in attention, and exacerbates emotional and
behavioral problems."
Today's teens are a sleep-deprived
generation that drinks more caffeine, gets up earlier for school
and goes to bed later, and requires teens to stay awake in order
to accomplish everything in their busy lives.
Busy Lives, Restless Nights.
Experts agree that teens, like
anyone else, have a natural Circadian rhythm, or body clock, that
gets thrown off when the alarm awakens them at 6 a.m. to attend
a 7:30 class. But instead of resting after eight hours of school,
they rush off to sports practice, part-time jobs, or school activities.
They consume caffeinated and sugar-filled beverages and foods in
order to have energy. They hang out with their friends. And at some
point, they do three to four hours' worth of homework. Even if they
make it to bed by 10 p.m. and don't stay awake staring at the computer
or the television, they have difficulty falling asleep.
Mary Carskadon, Ph.D., is the
NSF Pediatric Council Chair and the director of the Bradley Hospital
Sleep Research Laboratory at Brown University. Carskadon surveyed
3,000 teens in 1999. Among the results
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59% of teens reported that
they held part-time jobs.
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20% spent at least 20 hours
a week on extracurricular activities.
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Girls (65%) and boys (38%)
alike reported rising before 6 a.m. on school days.
Carskadon and other experts
say that these results indicate abnormal sleeping patterns. Teens
need at least nine hours of sleep, thanks to changes in their bodies
brought on by puberty. Around 11 p.m., teens are naturally ready
for bed. Unfortunately, six hours later, the alarm goes off. Then
parents wonder why their teens don't naturally roll out of bed.
Just five more minutes, Mom
It's a familiar scene: Mom opens
the door for the third time and yells, "You're going to be late
for school!" The teenager, exhausted, doesn't respond, and the parent
becomes frustrated. The teenage years are, after all, supposed to
be the time when you have the most energy. Many parents dismiss
the often heard "Just five more minutes, Mom," as laziness. This
is mainly because they don't understand the effect that "late to
bed, early to rise" has on their teenagers.
NEXT: Sleep Bill
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