Research shows teenagers need more sleep
According to sleep experts at the Wits Dial·a·Bed Sleep Laboratory,
children, and especially teenagers often obtain less sleep than they actually
require. Teenagers naturally display a delay in their sleep times as they tend
to fall asleep later at night and to wake up later in the morning. This process
is mediated by endogenous factors, so forcing teenagers to bed early, or getting
them up early in the morning, is contrary to their natural biological clock.
Some schools in Israel and the United States of America that delayed their
school start times to later in the morning, to accommodate this natural phase
delay, showed that scholars performed better at school.
In a study conducted in South Africa, teenagers reported sleeping on average
just over 7½ hours per night during school nights, which has been shown to be
insufficient sleep for this age group. As a result, South African teenagers and
probably younger children too, are more likely to be sleepy during the school
day, which may negatively affect their academic performance and future
prospects.
Many children need more sleep than they regularly obtain. Lack of sleep
negatively impacts on their attentiveness in class and leads to poorer scholarly
achievements. A survey recently published in the journal Sleep, revealed that
11-15 year olds who reported low school achievement, greater absenteeism and low
school enjoyment, reported higher levels of daytime sleepiness and reduced total
sleep times compared to children with better school related outcomes. -Wits
More information
For more information on this research, please contact Claudia Maldonado or
Alison Bentley from the Wits Dial·a·Bed Sleep Laboratory on (011) 717-2363 or
e-mail maldonadocc@physiology.wits.ac.za
or bentleyaj@physiology.wits.ac.za.
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