Posted on 10/03/2022 7:20:46 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Adjusting to a new sleep schedule at the start of the school year can lead to disturbed rest, daytime fatigue and changes in mood and focus for teens.
Although they need eight to ten hours of sleep per night to maintain physical health, emotional well-being and school performance, most adolescents get less than eight, especially on school nights.
Newly published research from RUSH in the journal SLEEP sheds light on how adolescents can get more shut-eye.
"There are a lot of changes a teen goes through," said Stephanie J. Crowley, Ph.D. "One specifically is a change to sleep biology that happens during puberty."
To combat teen sleep deprivation, the researchers used bright light therapy on two weekend mornings for a total of 2.5 hours. The bright light cues the internal clock to wake up a little earlier. This shift should make it easier for the teen to fall asleep at an appropriate time.
Crowley and her team then helped counteract sleep deprivation by providing time management tools and addressing barriers to an earlier bedtime, like limiting certain afterschool activities.
Researchers were able to shift the teens' bedtime earlier by an hour and a half, and their total sleep time increased by approximately an hour.
"The interesting thing is that teens with late circadian clocks shifted by up to two hours earlier," Crowley said. "And the teens who had an earlier circadian clock didn't need to be shifted any earlier. They just needed the behavioral support of trying to manage their time in the evening and increase their sleep duration."
The researchers also found that the teens in the intervention group were less tired, less irritable and less worried, and they exhibited better concentration. The students' morning alertness improved as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I think my personal best as a teenager was I once slept 13 hours.
I have to drink a lot to sleep 8 hours, I manage 4-6 hours of sleep at best
So we are so stupid that we need “experts” to tell us how to sleep. Pure unadulterated crap.
No tv no phones
That way they keep the same sleep schedule.
I think my circadian clock’s mainspring broke a long time ago. I was up late in high school and college and graduate school studying, working, and listening to the shortwave radio. I worked a second shift for eight years. I have always favored being up late, but I don’t have a problem getting up early. I don’t believe I have ever had a regular day-to-day sleep schedule, and I’m okay. I know a lot of people get out of kilter by the DST time changes, but I have never noticed anything from them.
Take away their phones.
You slept 13 hours straight through? Wow.
My usual has always been 4 to 5 hours.
I would have to have been sick with the flu, sweating a fever out, or I would need to have drank a half bottle of OUZO liqueur to stay out that long. Haven’t done that in decades.
As some of the posters here have stated, the best way to walk into a slumbering state of mind would be to stay off the internet in all of it’s many forms.
Do one of these ways involve physical efforts of any kind.
It’s my understanding, if you want to sleep easy, is exercise very hard for about 90 minutes about 5 hours before bedtime and then take a hot shower and the cooling, combined with exhaustion, will cause one to fall asleep easy.
I had a multi-band radio and stayed up to listen to shortwave, too.
Fun times.
It was during summer vacation. Went to bed midnight and woke up at 1pm. Now I’m happy if I get 6 to 7 hours of sleep.
iows, teens will sleep well when they are good and tired...
I get at least 9 hours every night and 1 to 2 naps (like 15 min) in during the day.
“I think my personal best as a teenager was I once slept 13 hours.”
My natural time was almost always right at 10 hours.
Then, I went to bootcamp.....
Man, did that suck.
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