Sufficient Sleep among 9th through 12th Graders

 

It is well known that most high schoolers are more interested in having fun than in getting enough sleep.  However a lack of sufficient sleep can cause numerous physical, mental and emotional problems.  Therefore, one of the sleep health goals (SH-3) of Healthy People 2020 is to “increase the proportion of students in grades 9 through 12 who get sufficient sleep” (p. 1).  This paper examines the problems and potential solutions to insufficient sleep in adolescents by reviewing the current literature and statistics.

The Problem

People need different amounts of sleep throughout the life cycle. According to Noland, Price, Dake and Telljohann (2009) adolescents need around 9 hours of sleep per night in order to be considered healthy sleepers.  However, very few adolescents actually get 9 hours of sleep a night, because most of them go to bed after11 p.m.and have to get up for school around6 a.m., which only gives them 7 hours of sleep (Noland et al., 2009).  This has been known to have a negative effect on their motivation, their mood and their performance in school. Plus, Noland et al. (2009) report that those last two hours of sleep that they are missing are the most important because that is when the brain is most likely to store new information.

Noland et al. (2009) conducted a study of 2,183 high school students from three different Midwestern high schools across the country to assess “the prevalence of adolescent sleep deprivation, factors that affect the quantity of sleep, adolescents’ perceptions of their sleep, and the effect of sleep deprivation on academic performance and weight status” (p. 225).  They found that students who had regular, consistent bedtimes and got a minimum of 8 hours of sleep performed better in school, had fewer mood swings and were less likely to be overweight.  Those who did not have adequate sleep schedules were getting worse grades in school and some were even falling asleep in class.  They also were shown to be more easily aggravated and more likely to have a weight problem.   These findings seem to indicate that the health people 2020 goal of increasing the number of high schoolers who get adequate sleep is right on target.

A lack of sufficient sleep can also cause other problems for adolescents, such as depression and family dysfunction.  Mueller, Bridges and Goddard (2011) found numerous studies linking depression in adolescents to poor sleep habits as well as linking depression to problems in the family.  They found a few studies investigating the relationship between adolescent sleep deprivation and family dysfunction but they wanted to connect all three of these factors to see how they influence one another.  So they conducted their own study which consisted of surveying 3,771 adolescents that were randomly selected from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) database.

Mueller et al. (2011) found that the relationships with both parents, and the overall family connectedness, was negatively impacted by adolescents who did not get enough sleep.  They also found depressive symptoms were higher in the sleep deprived adolescents.  Specifically, “insufficient-sleep adolescents (34 = 12.90, SD = 8.23) had significantly higher mean levels of depressive symptomatology when compared to normal-sleep adolescents (34= 9.68, SD = 6.78) (t (541.965) = -7.806, p < .000)” (p. 19).  These depressive symptoms also affected family functioning in an unhealthy way.

Another study by Colrain and Baker (2011) found that when adolescents go into what the authors call “sleep debt” the normal negative effects of not getting enough sleep are exacerbated by hormonal changes in the adolescent brain.  The researchers report that there are natural chemical changes that take place not only within the adolescent’s body but also in the way their brain communicates signals related to emotions and the general feeling of happiness.  When the adolescent does not get the proper amount of sleep, he or she is going to feel less happy, less enthusiastic about school and also more likely to take unnecessary risks.

The authors found that inadequate sleep can also make the adolescent more likely to suffer from physical illnesses.  These findings are in alignment with Healthy People 2020’s report that states that a lack of adequate sleep can result in the body having more trouble fighting off infections and maintain the appropriate blood sugar levels to avoid diabetes (Healthy People 2020, 2012, p. 1).

The problems associated with adolescence and insufficient sleep are clearly undeniable.  But what are the solutions?

Solutions

 While most people are at least vaguely aware of how important it is to get a good night’s sleep, there is a definite lack of understanding of just how serious a problem this can be, especially for adolescents.  Therefore, one of the primary solutions to this problem is to educate parents and teenagers on all of the negative physical, mental and emotional effects that insufficient sleep can have.

According to Wolfson  and Carskadon (2008) the more adults know about the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, the more likely they are to take steps to try to get enough sleep.  However, when it comes to adolescents, there seems to be a sense that they do not really believe that they will suffer from insufficient sleep, or they really just do not care.  That is why it is so important to educate the parents as well as the teens.  While their children might be too old to have “bedtimes” the parents can still be very influential in helping their sons and daughters go to bed at a regular time and making sure they get up at a consistent time as well.  Another suggestion is to educate teachers on the effects of inadequate sleep so that they can gain a better understanding of why some of their students are having problems in school.

Researchers such as Fuligni and Hardway (2008) have found that consistency is almost as important as the actual number of hours that an adolescent sleeps.  Therefore, education of the parents and the adolescents needs to focus not only on getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night, but also on making sure to go to bed and get up at the same time every day.  Fuligni and Hardway (2008) suggest that even on weekends when there is no specific time that the teens have to get up, they should still try to stick with the same sleep schedule to avoid all of the unwanted problems that the research shows to be associated with poor sleep habits.

 

 

Summary and Conclusion

Everyone knows what it is like to feel tired and sluggish because they did not get a good night sleep.  However as Healthy People 2020 and numerous research articles make clear, the problem is far more serious than just having a bad day now and then.  For adolescents especially, the importance of getting enough sleep, and getting consistent sleep, cannot be overemphasized.  The physical, mental and emotional drain that poor sleep habits can take on adolescents is just too serious to ignore.  That is why parents and their children need to be educated on just how important getting all 40 winks can be.

 

 

References

Colrain, I.M. & Baker, F.C. (2011) Changes in sleep as a function of adolescent development. Neuropsychology Review. 21(1), 5-21.

Fuligni, A. J. and Hardway, C. (2008), Daily variation in adolescents’ sleep, activities, and psychological well-being. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16(2), 353-378.

Healthy People 2020 (2012). Topics and Objectives, Sleep Health. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicId=38

Mueller, C. E., Bridges, S. K. & Goddard, M. S. (2011). Sleep and parent-family connectedness: links, relations and implications for adolescent depression. Journal of Family Studies, 17(1), 9-23.

Noland, H., Price, J.H., Dake, J. & Telljohann, S.K. (2009). Adolescents’ sleep behaviors and perceptions of sleep. The Journal of School Health, 79(5), 224-230

Wolfson, A. R. and Carskadon, M. A. (2008), Sleep schedules and daytime functioning in adolescents. Child Development, 69(4), 875-887.