Snooze alarm

[cactuswatcher]

How much sleep did you get in high school? A group calling itself the "National Sleep Foundation" has decided that kids from age 11 to 17 need 9 hours of sleep a night. Now I have to agreed that 11 year-olds could certainly use that much. But, I have to question whether these people are doing science or just going through the motions and announcing their pronouncements to the press as a way of making themselves look important. I don't question that there are more kids falling asleep in class now than there were back when I was in high school. With more mothers needing to work, parental control isn't what it used to be. But, you have to understand that sleep is as much about self-control as parental control. There are more kids left to their own supervision on their sleep hours, so more kids are having trouble. But is it actually a growing problem as this group claims, or one that's actually reached a plateau that won't change much unless society changes again?

It's not as if there weren't always problems with some kids not sleeping enough. I remember a few kids telling me they got four or five hours sleep a night in my high school days. Frankly it showed. Kids did fall asleep from exhaustion in high school in those days, and it got worse in college when more kids were on their own.

According to this 'first-of-a-kind' study 17 year olds-average about 7 hours a night. In the studies that weren't so one-of-a-kind back in my day, kids were averaging about 7 hours a night. (You can see the dramatic changing trends can't you?) But, I was a slug-a-bed and got about 8 hours a night, which seemed like plenty. Seriously, expecting a 17 year-old kid who is either drinking coffee or caffeinated soda all the time to get nine hours of sleep a night is... well... dreaming.

Comments

[bhadrasvapna.livejournal.com]

you guve to define "need." I would say it is to function optimally and I would have to agree (what they left off is when those 9 hours should occur which is why Teen sleep is so messed up), The fact that teens are needing caffeine to function at all shows they are not getting optimal sleep.

It isn't about control so much as messing with internal clocks. Teens shouldn't wake up before noon. I don't think many schools would agree with that. I would say this, more than discipline, is responsible for the problems teens have with sleep.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Maybe we need different schools for different kids. My sister was like you are suggesting and wasn't much use to anyone before noon. I was and still am a morning person, I've always got the most done in the morning, and started dragging after lunch, and picked up again by mid to late afternoon. Now that I'm older I frequently need an early afternoon nap.

I always wonder how much of teen caffeine use is need and how much is craving/addiction. It seemed like the more people drink coffee and colas, the more they depended on them to stay alert, which as you've said, sounds like the people aren't sleeping enough to begin with.