It’s the time of year when parents are celebrating the return to routine as their children return to school – unless you have a teenager. For parents of teens, getting their children to go to bed on time and get up on time can be a struggle. A lack of sleep can cause poor academic performance due to poor concentration, behavioral issues due to irritability, physical symptoms like fatigue and headaches, or mental issues like depression.

Students who don’t get enough sleep have poor concentration at school. (Photo: ThinkStock)

Recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that teens would benefit from a later school start time. As the decision on when classes start is not up to parents, how can they combat a teen’s natural habits?

Dr. Cheryl D. Tierney, section chief of behavior and developmental pediatrics at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, says back to school preparations should include gradually adjusting bed and wake-up times by 30 minutes every two to three days, over a couple weeks. “It’s very hard – you’re combating the fact that teenagers think ‘I only have two weeks left, I want to enjoy them,’” Tierney said.

Dr. Harish Rao, director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at the Children’s Hospital, suggests that parents not make the mistake of letting teens catch up on sleep on the weekends. “On the weekends, they’re waking up on California time and on weekdays they’re waking up on Eastern time,” Rao said. “Because their internal clocks do not shift very easily, there should be some consistency.”

Both doctors agree that weekend and weekday sleep and wake times should remain within a two-hour range.

Good light exposure upon waking helps internal clocks and brains to sync with outside time. Parents can help by scheduling their children’s activities to finish early enough to allow time to wind down and get enough sleep. Additionally, drinks with sugar or caffeine should be avoided, especially after 3 p.m.

Parents should not let teens take their smartphones and electronics into their bedrooms. Every person, regardless of age, should stop using devices at least an hour before bed so the light the devices produce does not interfere with the body’s natural melatonin production. That time can instead be used to engage in a relaxing activity like listening to music or reading to promote sleep.

According to Rao, many of his patients and their parents make the mistake of skipping breakfast. “This compounds the problem, as they’re getting to school sleepy and they don’t have the energy,” he said.

Adolescents need between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep each night. However, teens are often up until 11 p.m. or later because of sports, after-school activities and homework. Because of this, school start times of between 7 and 8 a.m. are not ideal. “It’s just impossible to get the number of hours that are necessary for teens to have an optimal night’s sleep to be able to function and learn,” Tierney said.

It all comes down to hormones. “Their natural circadian rhythm, as they get older, is to go to bed later,” Tierney said.

This is the basis for the CDC’s report. Younger children naturally go to bed earlier and wake up earlier so the elementary school students would do much better going to school earlier, coming home earlier and getting to bed earlier. This recommendation is new and any changes that result will not happen overnight.

In the meantime, Tierney recommends children exercise, eat right and do their best to sleep well. “It all plays a role together for them to have maximum performance in school and for them to be able to retain the information,” she said.

Rao also believes that educating both parents and children, particularly teenagers, about the importance of getting adequate sleep is important. “If they realize that getting enough sleep will result in better grades and help them feel better, they’ll probably do it,” he said.

Article by Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Bedtime hasn’t been this difficult since you were a toddler — throwing your tired self on the floor in a tantrum, insisting you weren’t ready for the day to end.

With a smartphone in your pocket, an electronic tablet in your bag, and laptops and gigantic televisions throughout your home, disconnecting for a nightly jaunt to Dreamland has become more difficult than ever — especially for teens.

Being too connected to electronic devices can be detrimental to sleep. (Photo: Penn State)

For years, studies have shown that as children enter adolescence, a natural shift occurs with their internal clocks, causing them to go to sleep and wake later. Unfortunately, many schools haven’t been able to adjust start times to accommodate.

When you add social pressure to stay connected to peers at all times — via Twitter, Facebook and text — it can be difficult for teens, or any of us, to shut off the media stream along with the bedside lamp to make sure they are rested for the day ahead.

“Teens are particularly sensitive to the blue-green spectrum of light emitted by these devices,” said Dr. Harish Rao, director of the pediatric sleep program at Penn State Hershey. “Using them before bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep and lead to poor quantity and quality of sleep.”

The resulting daytime sleepiness and fatigue can leave teens without the ability to focus in class, leading to poor academic performance and hyperactive behavior. Rao says studies have shown that sleep deprivation can be equated with being drunk because of the way it affects reaction time and judgment. In some cases, it can also contribute to high blood pressure and an increased risk of diabetes.

“We take sleep for granted,” he said. “But your brain needs recharging just like your device does. Only a person who has insomnia knows the value of sleep.”

When we sleep, neurons in the brain work to make connections and consolidate memory. It’s also when the body releases growth hormones. Although some adults can get by on five hours of sleep, most people need an average of seven or eight hours of shut-eye each night. Teens should get a minimum of nine hours, with younger children sleeping even more.

Here are some of Rao’s tips to help you shut down and recharge your body and mind each night:

• Turn down the lights an hour or so before you want to go to sleep. If you like to read in bed, use only a 25-watt bulb. Bright lights block out the melatonin that comes with darkness, signaling it is time to rest.
• Consider reading a traditional magazine or book rather than an e-version on a device. “Kindles are supposed to be better (than other tablets), but there are no studies to prove it,” Rao said.
• If you keep an electronic device in your bedroom to use as your alarm in the morning, place it face-down so the light it emits doesn’t interfere with sleep.

 
Although teens might have the toughest time disconnecting each evening, Rao said, “It’s a problem for everyone.”

Article by Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center