BLOG: The Sleepy Teen
What’s the sleepiest group of patients sleep doctors are likely to see? Adolescents, at least according to researchers at the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Health & Safety meeting in Washington DC this weekend.
This fact will probably come as no surprise to most parents of teens, who know what it’s like to try to wrest a kid out of bed for a 6 a.m. school bus or who routinely wring their hands while teens sleep in past noon on weekends.
And yet most parents don’t realize how truly sleep-deprived their children are, or how serious the longterm health consequences of sleep deprivation may be.
“There’s a big disconnect between what parents think and what’s actually going on out there,” said Dr. Judith Owens, MD, MPH, Director of Sleep Medicine at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. She cited a 2006 NSF poll showing that while 56% of teens report getting less sleep than they need, 71% of parents think their teens get enough sleep most nights.
According to the National Sleep Foundation and most sleep research, the average teenager needs about 9 hours of sleep per night. This means that to wake at 6 a.m, the average teenager should be sound asleep by about 9 p.m. at the latest.
“There are some very serious consequences to this epidemic of insufficient sleep in our teenage population,” said Dr. Owens, after explaining that a sleep debt one night may result in a temporary benefit such as a higher grade on a test the next day from that extra studying. However, like all debts, she cautioned, this one “needs to be paid off eventually.”
Health consequences of adolescent sleepiness (<8 hours of sleep per night) are daunting and include:
- Cigarette, marijuana, and alcohol use
- Stimulant abuse (with caffeine as the “gateway drug”)
- Depression and increased suicide risk
- Physical fights
- Physical inactivity
- Increased obesity risk
- Increased rates of drowsy driving and car crashes
There’s also growing evidence that inadequate sleep weakens the immune system and predisposes teens to longterm health consequences including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even a shortened life expectancy.
Does sleeping in on the weekends help? Not really, according to Dr. Owens. For one thing, the kids are still not getting enough sleep during the week when they need it to optimize school performance. And, worse, shifting sleep schedules so drastically puts our kids into a “perpetual state of jet lag” that can persist all week.
Explaining that it takes about one day for real-life travelers to adjust to each time zone crossed, Dr. Owens said that this common teenage lifestyle is akin to “flying from Washington to LA and back every weekend.”
That pay-off comes at the cost of our children’s overall health and well-being. We can’t control every aspect of modern life that contributes to this sleep debt, but we can certainly control some of them, including teaching our children the importance of sleep and good sleep “hygiene habits,” and working for school start times in sync with their sleep needs.
The latter means starting high school later than 7:17 a.m. Developmental psychologists and sleep researchers have known for decades that adolescents need to be asleep during the early hours of the morning. Sure, we can wake them up (sort of), and they can adapt and even thrive on certain select tasks. But they do so at a cost, and it’s a cost that they’ll be repaying for the rest of their (shortened) lives.
Mary King
12:10 am on Sunday, March 4, 2012
When teens sleep in past noon on weekends that is more akin to flying from Washington to Honolulu (not LA) and back every weekend.
Glenn
6:55 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
The writer of this blog came to a GOP function last week that was open to the public. She brought with her a petition supporting the later school start time. Many of us, in good faith, signed the "petition." A few days later we started receiving emails from MoveOn.org, the George Soros funded political advocacy group that gives hundreds of millions to progressive liberal candidates. She literally took our emails and contact information and sent it off to this group. I now believe this "fight for the children" is a ruse to collect signatures for MoveOn. I don't think she even has high school age kids anymore. Dirty pool, Ms. Snider! If your "cause" is so rightious, why don't you just come out and say who and what you are?
leslie swiger cowing
2:11 pm on Monday, March 5, 2012
Liz
I can't believe you just said what you did...you are better than that! Terra Snider has been working the past 15 years for education in AACPS on all issues, schedule, curriculum, and yes start time. I have worked with her since the inception when Lauren was in 5th grade with Olivia and we were girl scout folks together. I know after Benfield your kiddos went to Severn and well Frank continued on through the Severna Park system. High school starts at 7am with tardy being at 7:17.....seriously What a nightmare to get all of mine up and to school...all of whom were scholar athletes and honor roll students... I know you have an appreciation for medical research and for children with challenges...we all do since children and education are our passions! I can't believe you have let this part of you go by the way side. I know we have not connected in a while but I always respected you for your fervor for doing what is right, despite the political tide... Terra has a son who is a Junior at SPHS who is an absolute gem committed to his music and plays varsity Tennis and is in Dif EQ..that would differential equations...which is what my Alexis is taking as a youngster at the academy....test was today an still no text as of yet; but I am delivering wash and basil pesto pizza for dinner after lax practice This all being said Terra is trying to utilize moveonorg to make this happen.plain and simple It would be great to catch up...Pls call me 443-694-0676 Be well!
Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D.
7:16 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Liz, I'm sorry you feel misled, but I think you should hear my side of the story. I do not represent, or belong to MoveOn, nor is the petition their cause (in some ways I wish it were, if only because I need the clout of some big organization to give us the publicity we need). I started the petition last October on a WhiteHouse.gov petition site that was getting a lot of publicity, and thought that would help put what I think is a serious but intractable issue on the public radar screen. They misled me, as you know, by promising that w/5000 names we'd get a White House response, and I worked in good faith for a month to get those names. Sadly, the site was impossible for many people to access, and they took down my petition and its 1575 after precisely 30 days.
I was ready to give up, but many people who were energized by this cause from around the country urged me to continue to a petition effort. I got an email from SignOn.org asking me to start a petition through them and saying they'd put it on their webpage if it had momentum. I thought I that was promising, so I started a new petition. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn, but MoveOn does not support or endorse these petitions. They assured me they were "non-partisan." I had the whole petition printed out for you to sign, and all these things were printed right on it.
Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D.
7:25 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
That said, I'm very sorry if you feel misled. This is a completely non-partisan issue of health and safety, and one very near and dear to my heart, as you and I discussed. It is also one that has been unresolvable at the local level--even though health professionals and sleep scientists have endorsed a later start time since the 1990s.
For me, it doesn't matter who is paying for the petition platform, just that the message gets delivered and that it makes a difference. I get unwanted solicitations from every epetition venue(change.org, Care2petition, etc.), and I think that's the price we pay for free petitions. The ones that aren't so politically charged give people's email away to other signers, which I personally think is even worse. But what's most important is that we as citizens air our concerns when the powers that be won't listen.
However, again, I'm sorry you're upset and feel misled, and I assure you that this wasn't my intention. If you do get any more emails from MoveOn, you just check a box (as I have) asking to be removed from their mailing list. If you continue to get any emails, please let me know, and I"ll personally complain to them. I have already talked to them personally, and they assured me that they honor such requests.
Glenn
7:25 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
You came in with your clipboard, petition and pen. With a traditional petition, the signed page is submitted. You actively entereed our emails on the MoveOn site. do you seriously believe that MoveOn is non-partisan?????? You tout your intelligence, but say you were "mislead?" Sorry Ms. Snider - your response does not pass the smell test.
Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D.
7:34 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Liz, the clipboard contained the entire page from the website with all the words of the petition and a description of SignOn's relationship to MoveOn. It was there to be read. I don't feel that I'm owned by MoveOn just by using something they own. I don't like the fact that Google knows so much about me either, but I use their services because I get things done that way. You do know that the Patch itself is owned by the Huffington Post, don't you? That should be a problem, too, if we're going to be purists about all this. I prefer to concentrate on the issues and try to get something done....Anyway, please feel free to send me a personal message or call me if you want to discuss this more.
Glenn
7:44 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Ms. Snider - I don't "feel" misled. I WAS mislead and so were the other patriots who signed in good faith. You are basically saying "buyer beware" when you sign petitions - so you are NOT on our side. You knew exactly what you were doing when you entered our email addresses on what YOU KNEW to be a MoveOn supported site. We now know what you are all about. What a dirty trick.
Glenn
7:46 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
BTW - AOL owns Patch.
Maribel Ibrahim
7:51 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Liz, you raise a good point about receiving emails from MoveOn.org. When we ask potential signers to sign the petition, it includes an email address so that we can continue to keep signers updated on the petition that they have agreed to sign. By signing the petition (paper or electronic), the user is in fact, giving us permission to email them regarding our petition.
However, your assertion that Ms. Snider misled you into signing into something else is not accurate. The fact of the matter is that any parent organization will use information acquired through one of their organizations. Signon.org (the petition management system) is owned by MoveOn.org. And, yes, they will use your email to send you communications. However, this is standard protocol with ALL petition sites, forum sites, news commentary sites and any other site in which an email address is provided. The user always has the option to opt out of all or any emails that are received and this is made clear in every email communication. Patch does it. Huffington Post does it. NPR.org, you name it. Any organization is allowed to send you communications and every user is allowed to opt out at any time.
Maribel Ibrahim
7:54 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
We here at StartSchoolLater.net will send a weekly communication update to all petition signers and they can opt out of receiving these messages at any time. MoveOn.org may choose, at their own discretion, and not at our behest, to send messages. However, users can also opt out of these messages at any time.
Because users agree that they will receive communication via email and because they can opt out at any time, any misunderstanding is solely on the part of the user and not through a case of deception. Please feel free to opt out of any mailings sent by StartSchoolLater.net, Signon.org or MoveOn.org. We do not send out spam, and only want to send emails to those who want to receive them.
Regards,
Maribel Ibrahim
Co-Founder
www.StartSchoolLater.net
Maribel Ibrahim
7:59 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Also,
A dirty trick is when someone asks you to sign something and then changes the language in the petition or changes their position on the case. You can rest for sure that it is unethical to change the language in the petition. We are not allowed to do that with our petition. Because signers were able to read the petition in its entirety before signing, and because no one forced anyone to sign anything, any misunderstanding, again, lies with the person signing the petition, who, of their own free will, made the decision to sign the petition.
Liz, I apologize if you were misled, but unless Ms. Snider was pointing a gun to your head and demanding a signature, she cannot be blamed if you signed something and later did not understand what you signed.
Kari O
8:10 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Having read through this comment series, it's not clear to me how signing a piece of paper, with all the information detailed above, differs from going online. If Ms. League wrote her email address on the petition, did she really think it wasn't going to be electronically recorded somehow?
And if she chose not to do due diligence about all the factors that might bother her before signing the petition, then I don't really think that's the same as being mislead. The paper version of the petition, as described above, presents all the information she needed.
I think clarity and accuracy are important, even in the comments section of a hyper-local news forum. Unless there was some subterfuge (like pretending the petition was about something else, or not stating that it was a Signon.org petition, or obtaining the email by trickery), then I don't think Ms. League was tricked.
Kari O
8:28 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
And she is...a concerned citizen? A taxpayer and a mother? I'm asking the Patch editors to step in, because I find the tone of this discussion outside the bounds of civil discourse.
Leslie Hunt
11:08 pm on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Hey, folks, we're getting a little off track. Perhaps it's best to take your disagreement offline. Thank you.
James
9:42 am on Monday, March 5, 2012
Liz obviously believes in the cause, otherwise she would not have signed the petition in the first place. The point is, she and others are now receiving daily emails completely unrelated to this cause from an organization that is overtly partisan. I think you would feel the same way if you signed a petition and wound up on a mailing list for an organization with which you have deep disagreements.
Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D.
10:15 am on Monday, March 5, 2012
I agree with you, James. Unfortunately, once we start giving out our emails, signing online petitions, or doing anything online, we become fair game. This is hard for most of us (including me) to accept because we feel obliged to participate in this brave new world! The best solution, as I said, is simply to press the "opt out" button on any of these emails. The only other choice is not to fight for what we believe in because we're afraid of these consequences, and that's really giving in to the enemy.
Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D.
10:22 am on Monday, March 5, 2012
Please note also that this particular blog is a report on a research presentation about sleep and adolescents. If people want to discuss the petition to start school later, or the pros and cons of online petition sites, we should start a new blog on that subject. It's an important one, but it doesn't belong here.
Dolores Skowronek
7:44 pm on Monday, March 5, 2012
Terra, thanks for sharing the information about the National Sleep Foundation Meeting and the comments from Dr. Owens. Sorry to see that you're taking some heat. Sometimes doing the right thing is difficult. Keep up the good work.
Catherine thomas
5:20 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012
I am having difficulty understanding the uproar unless the upset writer did not understand how to unsubscribe, in which case it was explained how to do that and in my mind that should be the end of the discussion. It saddens me when great causes are shot down because for some reason liberals and conservatives cannot come together to bring the very best of both worlds for the betterment of our society.