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Is Your Teen Sleep Deprived?
Getting Serious About Sleep
By Keath Castelloe Low
How many hours of sleep each night does your teen get? What time does he get to sleep? What is the quality of his sleep? Is it restless or restful sleep? What time does your teen wake up in the morning, and what is his mood? Is he grumpy and moody or rested and alert? Is your teen often sleepy during the day?
These are questions Dr. William L. Coleman, pediatric professor at the Center for Development and Learning, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, asks parents. "Teenagers today are sleep deprived," he says. This sleep deprivation can lead to all sorts of problems including poor school performance, reduced ability to concentrate and sustain attention, decreased problem solving abilities, decreased ability to modulate emotions, increased depression, increased incidents of accidents when teens are behind the wheel driving and even increased acne and weight gain! Dr. Coleman stresses the importance of establishing healthy sleep habits in families.
Chris Sanderson from Ashburn, Va., and mother of two teenagers admits that her kids do not get enough sleep. "When I say to them 'go to bed,' I mean go to sleep," she says. "When they hear 'go to bed,' they take it as 'I should go to my room and find another activity to do from my bed'!" Sanderson jokingly calls her teens "cookie monsters and grouches," because they have developed a pattern of eating snacks late at night and are frequently grouchy during the day. Mornings involve repeated pushing of the snooze button. Sanderson says her son would rather sleep more in the morning and cut back on the time he spends getting ready for school. "If the expression 'get your beauty rest' was really true, I'd have very ugly kids!" she says.
