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Is Your Teen Sleep Deprived?
Getting Serious About Sleep
By Keath Castelloe Low
Bryson Walker from Wynnewood, Pa., acknowledges that her 17-year-old son is also a "classic sleep-deprived teen." She shares that "he has the habit of multi-tasking – Internet, study, listen to music, IM his friends, etc., but this practice takes him later and later into the night. Then, of course, he can't miss Jon Stewart at 11 p.m.!" Sleep, or lack thereof, is a big discussion in the Walker family. With three teenagers and one preteen in the home, Bryson and her husband, Kelly, want to make sure all of the children get the sleep they need in order to function well during the day.
"During sleep we rejuvenate ourselves both physically and mentally," says Dr. Helene Emsellem, a nationally known sleep expert and medical director of the Center for Sleep and Wake Disorders. She notes that there is a tremendous amount of physical and mental growth taking place during puberty; as a result teen sleep requirements are even greater than that of an average adult.
Dr. Emsellem, who is also the author of Snooze ... or Lose!: 10 "No-War" Ways to Improve Your Teen's Sleep Habits (Joseph Henry Press, 2006), reports that "the current generation of teens lives in a very demanding 24/7 world." She says that teens have many, many more obligations (school, jobs, community service, AP classes) and distractions (Internet, cell phones, video games, instant messenger, TV)." Sanderson and Walker concur, believing that these obligations and distractions engage our teens and contribute to keeping them up late at night.
