Parents aren't powerless when it comes to sleep-deprived teenagers
January 9, 2020
Science Daily/University of Rochester
Teenagers in the US simply don't get enough shut eye. The consequences of this epidemic of sleep deprivation are extensive and include increasing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents, as well as suicidal thoughts and actions. Sleep-deprived teens are more likely to be involved in car crashes, and run a higher risk of injury during sports-related activities.
Experts have pointed to various reasons for the chronic teenage sleep deficit: growing homework loads, too many extra-curricular activities, caffeine consumption, school start times that run counter to middle and high schoolers' natural circadian rhythms, and the use of electronic devices and backlit screens, which may disrupt sleep patterns, before bedtime.
But researchers at the University of Rochester have found that a simple and timeworn solution yields solid results: a clear bedtime that parents consistently adhere to.
"Greater enforcement of parent-set bedtimes for teenagers aged 14-to-17 are associated with longer sleep duration," says Jack Peltz, lead author of a recent study, which was published in the academic journal Sleep. Peltz, now an assistant professor of psychology at Daemen College, earned his PhD in psychology at Rochester in 2013 and conducted the study as part of a research appointment at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry.
Study participants included teenagers and their parents. The team asked their teenage participants to keep twice-daily sleep diary entries over seven days, collecting reports of sleep duration, daytime energy levels, and depressive symptoms. Parents, meanwhile, provided information about their enforcement of sleep-related rules and bedtimes.
Among the key findings:
Parent-enforced bedtimes -- along with later school start times -- are the greatest predictors of sleep duration, daytime energy level, and depressive symptoms.
More than 50 percent of parent respondents reported no specific or enforced bedtime rules, consistent with rates measured in previous research across families in the US.
Evening screen time and caffeine consumption did not, contrary to the researchers' hypotheses, significantly affect teenagers' sleep duration over the course of the study.
In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics responded to the sleep deprivation epidemic by urging school districts to start classes no earlier than 8:30 am, especially for middle and high schoolers. But to date, only about 14 percent of US high schools have heeded the recommendation, which makes the rule-setting role of parents all the more important.
The researchers acknowledge that setting a bedtime for teenagers might be difficult; but their results suggest that even with pre-bedtime conflict, parents' enforcement of bedtimes yielded better mental health outcomes for their offspring. That said -- "ideally parents should be able to work collaboratively with their teenagers to develop bedtimes that still support the child's autonomy," says Peltz.
The bottom line, according to coauthor Ronald Rogge, an associate professor of psychology at Rochester, is that "even though adolescents start gaining self-sufficiency and independence, they still need sleep and might not prioritize that if left to their own devices."
Absent an iron-clad rule, there are nevertheless healthy ranges, says Heidi Connolly, a professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of Pediatric Sleep Medicine at Rochester, who is also a coauthor of the study. Most teenagers need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night, she says, mirroring recommendations made by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
As for an appropriate bedtime, that of course depends on the wake-up time. "It's inherently more difficult for teenagers to fall asleep earlier than later because of their circadian rhythm," says Connolly. "That's why it's so important for high school start times to be later, as the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended across the board."
The ideal is to feel well rested during the daytime, and spontaneously awaken at around your scheduled wake-up time even when allowed to sleep in.
The team notes that future studies may be necessary to determine if their findings hold true across a range of populations; they caution that their sample was predominantly white, well-educated, and economically advantaged.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200109130203.htm
Exercise may help teens sleep longer, more efficiently
May 22, 2019
Science Daily/Penn State
Getting more exercise than normal -- or being more sedentary than usual -- for one day is enough to affect sleep later that night. Researchers found that when teenagers got more physical activity than they usually did, they got to sleep earlier, slept longer and slept better that night.
In a one-week micro-longitudinal study, the researchers found that when teenagers got more physical activity than they usually did, they got to sleep earlier, slept longer and slept better that night.
Specifically, the team found that for every extra hour of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, the teens fell asleep 18 minutes earlier, slept 10 minutes longer and had about one percent greater sleep maintenance efficiency that night.
"Adolescence is a critical period to obtain adequate sleep, as sleep can affect cognitive and classroom performance, stress, and eating behaviors," said Lindsay Master, data scientist at Penn State. "Our research suggests that encouraging adolescents to spend more time exercising during the day may help their sleep health later that night."
In contrast, the researchers also found that being sedentary more during the day was associated with worse sleep health. When participants were sedentary for more minutes during the day, they fell asleep and woke up later but slept for a shorter amount of time overall.
Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State, said the findings -- published today (May 22) in Scientific Reports -- help illuminate the complex relationship between physical activity and sleep.
"You can think of these relationships between physical activity and sleep almost like a teeter totter," Buxton said. "When you're getting more steps, essentially, your sleep begins earlier, expands in duration, and is more efficient. Whereas if you're spending more time sedentary, it's like sitting on your sleep health: sleep length and quality goes down."
While previous research suggests that adolescents need eight to ten hours of sleep a night, recent estimates suggest that as many as 73 percent of adolescents are getting less than eight.
Previous research has also found that people who are generally more physically active tend to sleep longer and have better sleep quality. But the researchers said less has been known about whether day-to-day changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior affected sleep length and quality.
For this study, the researchers used data from 417 participants in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, a national cohort from 20 United States cities. When the participants were 15 years old, they wore accelerometers on their wrists and hips to measure sleep and physical activity for one week.
"One of the strengths of this study was using the devices to get precise measurements about sleep and activity instead of asking participants about their own behavior, which can sometimes be skewed," Master said. "The hip device measured activity during the day, and the wrist device measured what time the participants fell asleep and woke up, and also how efficiently they slept, which means how often they were sleeping versus tossing and turning."
In addition to finding links between how physical activity affects sleep later that night, the researchers also found connections between sleep and activity the following day. They found that when participants slept longer and woke up later, they engaged in less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior the next day.
"This finding might be related to a lack of time and opportunity the following day," Master said. "We can't know for sure, but it's possible that if you're sleeping later into the day, you won't have as much time to spend exercising or even being sedentary."
Buxton said improving health is something that can, and should, take place over time.
"Becoming our best selves means being more like our best selves more often," Buxton said. "We were able to show that the beneficial effects of exercise and sleep go together, and that health risk behaviors like sedentary time affect sleep that same night. So if we can encourage people to engage in more physical activity and better sleep health behaviors on a more regular basis, it could improve their health over time."
In the future, the researchers will continue to follow up with the participants to see how health and health risk behaviors continue to interact, and how sleep health influences thriving in early adulthood.
Russell T. Nye, graduate student at Penn State; Nicole G. Nahmod, Penn State; Soomi Lee, assistant professor at the University of South Florida; Sara Mariani, Harvard Medical School; and Lauren Hale, professor at Stony Brook University, also participated in this work.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190522081513.htm
Texting at night affects teens' sleep, academic performance
Researcher finds that instant messaging in the dark makes a difference compared to having the lights on
January 26, 2016
Science Daily/Rutgers University
A new study is the first of its kind to link nighttime instant messaging habits of American teenagers to sleep health and school performance. Media use among children of all ages is increasing exponentially; studies have found that children ages 8 to 18 use electronic devices approximately seven-and-a-half hours daily.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/01/160126162227_1_540x360.jpg
Research has found that students who turned off their devices or who messaged for less than 30 minutes after lights out performed significantly better in school than those who messaged for more than 30 minutes after lights out.
Credit: © theartofphoto / Fotolia
The study, published in the Journal of Child Neurology, is the first of its kind to link nighttime instant messaging habits of American teenagers to sleep health and school performance.
"We need to be aware that teenagers are using electronic devices excessively and have a unique physiology," says study author Xue Ming, professor of neuroscience and neurology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "They tend to go to sleep late and get up late. When we go against that natural rhythm, students become less efficient."
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that media use among children of all ages is increasing exponentially; studies have found that children ages 8 to 18 use electronic devices approximately seven-and-a-half hours daily.
Ming's research is part of a small but growing body of evidence on the negative effects of electronics on sleep and school performance. But few studies, Ming says, have focused specifically on instant messaging.
"During the last few years I have noticed an increased use of smartphones by my patients with sleep problems," Ming says. "I wanted to isolate how messaging alone - especially after the lights are out - contributes to sleep-related problems and academic performance."
To conduct her study, Ming distributed surveys to three New Jersey high schools - a suburban and an urban public school and a private school - and evaluated the 1,537 responses contrasting grades, sexes, messaging duration and whether the texting occurred before or after lights out.
She found that students who turned off their devices or who messaged for less than 30 minutes after lights out performed significantly better in school than those who messaged for more than 30 minutes after lights out.
Students who texted longer in the dark also slept fewer hours and were sleepier during the day than those who stopped messaging when they went to bed. Texting before lights out did not affect academic performance, the study found.
Although females reported more messaging overall and more daytime sleepiness, they had better academic performance than males. "I attribute this to the fact that the girls texted primarily before turning off the light," Ming says.
The effects of "blue light" emitted from smartphones and tablets are intensified when viewed in a dark room, Ming says. This short wavelength light can have a strong impact on daytime sleepiness symptoms since it can delay melatonin release, making it more difficult to fall asleep - even when seen through closed eyelids.
"When we turn the lights off, it should be to make a gradual transition from wakefulness to sleep," Ming says. "If a person keeps getting text messages with alerts and light emission, that also can disrupt his circadian rhythm. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the period during sleep most important to learning, memory consolidation and social adjustment in adolescents. When falling asleep is delayed but rising time is not, REM sleep will be cut short, which can affect learning and memory."
Ming notes some benefits to early-evening media use, such as facilitating collaboration for school projects, providing resources for tutoring, increasing school readiness and possibly offering emotional support systems.
She suggests that educators recognize the sleep needs of teenagers and incorporate sleep education in their curriculum. "Sleep is not a luxury; it's a biological necessity. Adolescents are not receiving the optimal amount of sleep; they should be getting 8-and-a-half hours a night," says Ming. "Sleep deprivation is a strong argument in favor of later start times for high schools - like 9 a.m."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160126162227.htm