Teen sleep importance highlighted - study

Monday 13th August 2012

Teenagers who regularly get a longer night’s sleep will perform better academically compared to those who experience late nights or irregular sleeping patterns, reports nationalpost.com. The study, led by neuropsychologist Dean Beebe with results delivered at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies event, highlighted the importance of sleep during this intense mentally-demanding phase.

The research centred around a classroom simulation in which participating children were tasked with various learning activities while both well-rested and sleep deprived, with their performance rated afterwards. The results found that attention, memory and even mood were far higher when the students had good sleep, with their performance markedly improved.

According to the researchers, the average sleep length for teens on school nights is around seven hours, some two hours less than the nine hours recommended nightly. Furthermore, the weekend sleep patterns – later nights and lie-ins – had a knock-on effect that could last into the following school week. Prof. Beebe stressed the importance of parental control of entertainment access for teens, as well as their consumption of stimulating drinks such as caffeine-filled soft drinks and energy drinks.

Tags: sleep teen school memory sleep-deprived

Category: Sleep Research

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