Make your kids go to sleep at a reasonable hour or they’ll never go to college. Increasing SAT scores could be as wasy as just getting more sleep each night. Teens are tired these days, not just from piles of homework and extracurricular activities; they are just not getting enough sleep. Teens with dark circles under their eyes are in fashion these days. The reason for all of these high school students using their desks as a pillow is due to our wonderful sleep chemical known as Melatonin; “the main substance produced by the pineal gland, a small structure located between the cerebral hemispheres”. However a few changes in a teen’s typical daily schedule can lead to more positive effects both inside and out. Amazingly a recent study found that half of Americans just aren't getting enough snooze time, a true American division.
It’s just sleep. I’ll catch up on my sleep on the weekends, and sleep the day away. Well the solution is not that simple. When teens try to catch up on their sleep on the weekends, this leads to a change in sleep routine and throws off sleep patterns and restarting the whole process Monday morning, which leads to a harder time trying to fall asleep.
Let’s get technical. What is to blame for teen’s inability to go to bed before 10 pm? The answer is Melatonin, our brains sleep chemical which in turn makes us drowsy. You know that feeling when you can’t keep your eyes open? That’s our melatonin at its finest. When we’re sitting in darkness it triggers the pineal gland to secret melatonin. Once a child hits their teen years the melatonin begins to trigger later on in the evening compared with the 5-12 year olds whose melatonin kicks in at an earlier hour making it easier for younger children to fall asleep earlier at night.
Sleep? I’ll catch up when I’m dead.
Teens are busy and have a tons of activities on their plate including working a part time job, going to school, extra curricular activities and homework; which does not leave a lot of free time or even a social life. Even though teens in other generations have also been busy, teenagers today on average are sleeping an hour less than thirty years ago. Dr. Ana Krieger the director of the NYU Sleep Disorder Center believes “One hour less per night of sleep on a chronic basis can really make a different on the way the body works”. Therefore trying to catch up on sleep time during the weekends is just not enough.
In an article titled “Sweet Dreams Make for Smarter Teens” tells the schedule of fifteen year old, Henry Elliman who goes to sleep on average around 1 am and waking up around 7 am; therefore leaving only six hours of snooze time. A sufficient sleep time would be around eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep per night. Poor Henry feels the effects of his late nights in the classroom.
It is no wonder why sleeping affects one’s ability to take tests and do well in school. A University of Minnesota survey “found that A students slept an average of 15 minutes longer than B students, who in turn slept more than C students and so on”. Who knew an extra seventy five minutes per week could be so beneficial?
Teenagers who do not get enough sleep can impair one’s IQ as much as lead exposure. Sleep deprived teens are also at a greater risk for obesity, depression and cognitive delays. When you think about sleep affects almost every daily function including work, driving, learning and doing homework. If you don't get enough sleep it only leads to a domino effect of sluggishness, that continues until the body gets to rest. For all of you Red Bull fanatics or Starbucks junkies, guzzling down caffeine infused beverages doesn't disguise the problem.
Not only does sleep affect our mind abilities and functioning but it also contributes to regulating our metabolism. When it all comes down to it sleep = health, and one study found that 64% of Americans who were obese also reported not sleeping well.
So what’s the solution? Drug your kids with some sleeping pills? Lock them in their room and shut off the lights? The solution may be as simple as starting school just an hour later. In Edina, Minnesota a high school did just this, the school administrators pushed the school start time from 7:30 to 8:30. A sudden increase in the top SAT scores that year, from 1288 to 1500! Also teachers reported that students were more awake during the first few periods of the day. The increase can be attributed to extra pillow time, who would have thought?
Teens need a sufficient hours of sleep and it’s up to parents to educate their children on the importance of sleep. Parents can do their part by decreasing the amount of caffeine consumption in the home, eliminating exercise at night time and try to decrease television time before bed.
We all know that sleep is important, but more importantly is the number of hours we sleep at night. Just a few extra minutes a night can make a big difference in our attitudes, mental functioning, physical well being in the long run. Just think sleep a little longer, look, feel and think better than you would without those extra minutes!
When everything is said and done, don't take your sleep for granted. If youre looking for that raise at work or an increase in your test scores instead of bothering your boss and your teacher take it upon yourself to sleep more at night.
Since students are sleeping less does this mean that less students will be receiving packets of acceptance letters from prestigious schools such as Harvard, Yale or MIT? Probably not but it is still a serious issue. Should we rely on school board officials to push back school start time? No I don't think that will happen either. Instead of parents blaming teachers for too much homework, students should take the blame for the lack of sleep. High schools should be flaunting this information about more sleep equals higher test scores because that looks better for teachers and school administrators.
I think the world would be a different place if people just got enough rest.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I find it interesting how the high school in Edina, Minnesota changed their school schedule to allow students to have an extra hour of hitting the snooze button. While the school’s intention may be good, I don’t see how the concept of starting school an hour later will give students the extra hour of sleep since the school would most likely end up getting out an hour later as well. This, in turn, would likely keep a student up an extra hour at night finishing his/her homework causing the student to get the exact same amount of sleep. Did the school in Minnesota merely start an hour later or did it also extend its hours as well to compensate for the lost hour?
I just learned that the boarding school I went to for highschool is also jumping on the more-time-for-sleep bandwagon, pushing the class schedule back 40 minutes later in the a.m. and moving curfew for study hours earlier at night (7:30 for freshmen/sophomores and 9:30 for juniors/seniors). All the kids (from my 16-year-old brother's point of view, that is) are griping over the changes, but perhaps they'll complain less when they're well rested and less cranky!
I was always in favor of moving the start of class an hour back. I simply never understood how people can function on five to six hours of sleep.
Post a Comment