It will come as no
surprise to many educators that the vast majority of adolescent are achieving
less than optimal sleep, impairing their ability to learn. The National Sleep Foundation’s “Sleep in
America” poll
from 2006 includes disturbing data about this widespread public health problem.
They found that only 20 percent of
adolescents were getting the optimal amount of sleep (9 hours or more per
night), with 45 percent of adolescents sleeping less than eight hours per
night. Insufficient sleep among children in this age group has also been associated with mental health difficulties, substance use, and
risky decision-making.
There are many factors
contributing to the lack of sleep among our young people, including busy schedules, poor sleep habits, and a
biological tendency to stay up later coupled with early school start times. Many studies have demonstrated a delay in the
adolescent sleep cycle, which is associated with puberty. On average, a “natural” bedtime for an
adolescent is between 10 and 11 p.m., making it very difficult to achieve the
recommended 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep on school nights in particular. As a result adolescents are prone to nap
after school and oversleep on weekends, perhaps understandable but often
resulting in even less sleep on weeknights.
The Kentucky Sleep
Society’s Adolescent Sleep Task Force was formed to disseminate information to
adolescents and their families about healthy sleep habits, and information to
educators about the positive impacts associated with later school start
times. In an upcoming blog, we will
discuss tips on healthy sleep for adolescents and families and provide links to
handouts for families.
Some schools have decided to adjust their start times on account of this phenomenon. See Sleep Study Research at UMN: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/connect/2013Winter/sleep.html
ReplyDeleteSome schools have decided to adjust their start times on account of this phenomenon. See Sleep Study Research at UMN: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/connect/2013Winter/sleep.html
ReplyDeleteThat's a really interesting article. However, I noticed that it curiously stops short of saying that moving the school's start time improved learning. It gives some anecdotal responses to the change,says there were fewer discipline problems, and that the graduation rate improved (possibly because lazy students were more easily able to get up on time to attend school), but it doesn't say that there was any change in test scores, grades, or any metric that directly points to learning. That seems unusual. One has no choice to assume that the traditional logic doesn't hold true in this case. Perhaps, students might like that extra hour of sleep, but it doesn't actually lead to more learning.
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