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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.
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.
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Yeah, that's the problem with this. They make the assumption that less than 9 hours of sleep is bad, but there is nothing to back it up. No data of any kind on it. Just hand-wringing that so many kids don't fit their norm.