Sleep Essentials

We all know what it feels like to lack sleep. It therefore takes no stretch of imagination to believe in the validity of recent sleep research that indicates lack of motivation, poor memory, and a greater risk of accidents for those that are sleep deprived. But did you know that top neuroscientists in this country have found significant differences between adults and adolescents in their sleep patterns and sleep needs?

Brain Changes Parents and educators need to be aware that when a child begins adolescence, the brain undergoes a myriad of changes, including in sleep patterns.   According to Dr. Mary A, Carskadon, Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Medical School, and Director of  the E. P. Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Labortory, most American adolescents have built up a significant “sleep debt”. This "sleep debt " vastly contributes to: ·          poor academic performance ·          lapses in good judgment   Furthermore, their laboratory studies have proven that during adolescence the body clock is moved forward, resulting in more wakefulness at night, and less wakefulness in the morning. So, just when the young person is transitioning to an earlier school starting time for Junior High and High School, he or she is biologically LESS LIKELY to be able to go to bed earlier and get up earlier to accommodate this school schedule change.

Hours of Sleep Needed Dr. Carskadon's laboratory has also documented a real sleep need of 9.25 hours for the adolescent body.   Yet, how many hours of sleep do the teens you know get nightly? ADOLESCENTS DON’T GET ENOUGH SLEEP.   Dr. Carskadon summarizes that American teens are walking through 4, 6, or 8 years of their lives totally sleep deprived.  These are the same years when adults around these teens worry about their performance and decision-making.   Below you'll find a link to Dr. Carskadon's lab and its wealth of resources.  Plus, you'll find a link to the WGBH/FRONTLINE special - "'Inside the Teenage Brain." This program, written and produced by Sarah Spinks, offers interviews with Dr. Carskadon, other neuroscientists, and parents.

see Dr. Carskadon's lab at Brown University

see WGBH Frontline's "Inside the Teenage Brain"