There are many misconceptions associated with teens and their sleeping habits. Some think teens just don't need as much sleep as younger kids. Whereas others believe teens are just willful and could get more sleep if they wanted to. Michael Fenster, a teacher at South Anchorage High school said sleep is a choice.
"The ones I see who are the worst off are the ones who don't train themselves to go to bed on time, or they stay up and either listen to music or play video games. There are others who do not do that who are sleep deprived also, but I think the majority of them could control their own work habits and be able to make sure that they are not sleep deprived."
Even though they're on their way to being full-fledged adults, teens need about two more hours of sleep each night than younger children do.
New studies have shown there are biological factors keeping teens up until the crack of dawn. For those of you who are under the impression that teens stay up late because they are goofing off, I apologize for the shock you are about to receive. Researchers have found many teenagers may not be physically ready to fall asleep until 11 at night.
Circadian rhythms are the natural cycles a human body goes through in 24 hour. In other words, your biological clock. They are what regulate a person's level of fatigue. Studies have shown teenagers to have drastically different schedules as far as sleep goes. Their bodies are naturally designed to want to stay up later and sleep-in longer. Even if teens were to go to bed at 9 p.m., provided they weren't sleep deprived, chances are they wouldn't be able to fall asleep until 11 p.m.
And teens are just plain busy.
"I think a lot of us know that it's important to have good sleep habits it's just that we kind of deny it because we don't have time and there are things that are more important to do than sleep," Luba Barnitskai, a South Anchorage High School student.
Many teenagers keep schedules that are packed too full. But most say they're not willing to give up their activities in order to get more sleep.
"It's important to live life, who cares about sleep? I don't know, it's just the way I think about it, my day's pretty full," Barnitskai said. "I can't really cut anything out. There's school and then you come home and do homework and go to practice for something or you go to the gym and I think it's important to have all of those aspects in your life because it makes you a better person and it develops your characteristics. Sleeping is very important. But at this point in my life, I'm not too concerned about it. I do notice the effects sometimes on myself, I just realize how tired I am and cranky I get."
South Anchorage High teacher Jessica Williams said she's noticed an increasing trend among students to do too much.
"Teens are piling more and more on their plates over the years and I can't imagine how they get everything they do done in a day and still manage to get a good night's sleep," she said.
Williams said there are many reasons teens are not getting enough sleep.
"Too much social activity after school for one. A lot of the students are just doing too many things after school, whether it's sports and then being part of a club and all kinds of other things. And then whatever the parents require on top of that for chores and things they have to do around the house. A lot of them are working and they work a lot of hours during the week."
These realities, coupled with 7:30 a.m. start times of many high schools, are a pretty lethal combination. With teens staying up late and getting up early, many of today's adolescents are seriously sleep deprived. And it's not just their grades that are suffering for it.
Teens who don't get enough sleep are irritable, depressed, angry and just plain tired. Their ability to concentrate deteriorates, their productivity is reduced and they have a tendency to make more mistakes. Tired students may also notice memory impairment, diminished creativity and may have trouble communicating.
Alyson Ogle , a junior from South Anchorage High School, said sleep deprivation lessens her quality of life.
"It makes some activities a little bit less enjoyable because you're thinking about sleeping," Ogle said. "You don't feel you can be as positive to your friends or your family about what they ask you about, or what they want to talk about or what they want to do. There are things you really want to be able to do but something inside your head is telling you, you just don't feel like it. I don't like being as negative and sometimes I feel that's caused by a lack of sleep."
Kime Mcklintok , a senior from South Anchorage High School said she also recognizes the effects of being over-tired.
"It affects your body, it affects your learning abilities, it affects your ability to remember things, your focus, it's pretty detrimental to your driving."
Lack of adequate sleep, lessens the body's immunity to viral infections and even suppresses immune cells that fight cancer. That's one reason why people who get enough sleep tend to outlive those who are chronically sleep deprived. Teens who carry around large sleep debts are at a high risk for some kind of accident. Not to mention that not getting enough sleep alters metabolism and can increase a person's cravings for foods high in sugar, fats and calories. As a result, sleep deprivation may lead to obesity. Last, but definitely not least, sleep deprivation alters a person's hormonal functioning in ways that mimic aging and can result in abnormally high blood pressure.
For parents out there who are worried about the amount of sleep your teen is getting, here are some signs to look for that may be the result of sleep deprivation. If your teen has difficulty waking up in the morning, falls asleep frequently during quiet times in the day, sleeps excessively on weekends and acts irritable late in the day, he or she may not be getting enough sleep.
Teens and their sleep
