Are you getting enough sleep these days? I know this writer and mom to two little ones is not. But, at least I don't have to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a 7:30 a.m. class, like the sleep-deprived teens I discuss in my new UT HealthLeader article "A Cry for Sleep." Did you know that only 30 percent of teens sleep at least eight hours--at a time when they should be sleeping more than nine hours a night? And an estimated one in four teenagers sleep only six hours a night or less. “Kids out there are chronically sleep deprived,” says Robert E. Roberts, PhD, a professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and author of several studies on sleep and adolescents. “They are at much greater risk for depression, reduced academic performance, they think their health is worse, they report more problems of all kinds at school, are less satisfied with life in general and are more prone to use drugs.”
How can we help? Roberts says communities should encourage school districts to start high school later in the day. In the meantime, parents can try their best to help their teens establish healthy sleep routines, including not watching television or playing computer games before bedtime.
Poor kids. I feel your pain and drink my Venti latte in honor of your sleeplessness and mine. Ahhh.