Health Experts: Sleepless teens need to turn off the tech

My 16-year-old son didn't sleep through the night consistently until he was 3, and even now I often hear him stomping through the kitchen in the middle of the night in search of food. His insomnia typically gets worse at this time of the year when school starts.

Sleep disturbance is common in adolescents, according to recent research, with symptoms of insomnia affecting from one-quarter to one-half of all teens. While many physical and psychological issues can contribute to insomnia, there is a little information as to the role poor sleep hygiene may play.

As the recent sleep survey from the Consumer Reports National Research Center (conducted in April 2008) pointed out, there are four approaches to sleep often advised by sleep experts:

• Use the bedroom primarily for sleep, not as an all-purpose room where one watches television, uses the computer, reads, or eats meals.
• Keep the bedroom dark at bedtime.
• Keep the bedroom quiet at bedtime.
• Keep pets and children off the bed at bedtime.

Indeed, most adult respondents did keep their bedrooms dark and quiet at bedtime. On a typical night in the preceding month, 84 percent of respondents told us their bedroom was kept dark at bedtime, and 67 percent stated that their bedroom was completely quiet. Overall, 63 percent indicated their rooms were both dark and quiet at bedtime.

But the high-tech bedrooms of many teenagers, including my son’s, are anything but dark and quiet. He often goes to sleep listening to his iPod, and receives (and probably sends) text messages late into the night. In fact, this seems to be typical teenage behavior. A United Kingdom Sleep Council survey last year of 1,000 12- to 16-year-olds in Britain found that almost a quarter of adolescents admitted to falling asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music, or with their computers still on. Almost all those surveyed said they had a phone, music system, or television in their bedroom and two-thirds had all three. And one-fifth of teenage boys admitted that their quality of sleep was affected by leaving on the TV, video games, or computer.

Similarly, in a 2006 National Sleep Foundation poll, 97 percent of U.S. teens said they had at least one electronic item, such as a television, computer, phone, or music device, in their bedroom. On average, sixth-graders reported having more than two electronic gadgets in their room, while high-school seniors said they had four. It is perhaps no wonder that those with four or more such items were twice as likely to fall asleep in school or while doing homework.

But it’s not just fatigue that's at stake. A study of 238 13- to 16-year-olds from the journal Circulation published last month found that poor sleep quality was associated with elevated blood pressure in otherwise healthy adolescents. Specifically, teens with poor sleep quality were 3.5 times as likely to be prehypertensive or hypertensive.

So it may be time to have a serious sleep talk with our kids. While it's hard to tell most teenagers what's good for their health, it may be helpful to just give them the facts. And it probably doesn't hurt to start while they're young. My 12-year old, a sound sleeper, keeps his computer and video games in the study, where I'm hoping they'll stay.

—Orly Avitzur, M.D., medical adviser to Consumers Union

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Comments

[Edward R. Hudock]

What do you mean, "...where I'm hoping they'll stay."? Are you the parent or not? Does your 12 year old make the decisions or do you?

[Mike Groman]

Anything that draws teenagers' interest will keep them awake long after they should be in bed, whether it's cell phone, TV, computer, or BOOKS.

I'm almost 60, and the only one of the preceding I had available to me in my bedroom as a teenager was BOOKS, and let me tell you, I rarely got to sleep before 2 or 3 AM on any night because I read until I was either finished with the book or too tired too continue. Yes, I even resorted to the flashlight under the blanket. And yes, I frequently nodded off during class. That being said, I agree with Cheryl's attitude but wonder how she would have handled me.

Although I agree with Mike Upchurch that reading for pleasure is too much diminished, I disagree with him about why students resent required reading lists: I love to read, but I--ninth of 205 in my high school class--went the Cliff's Notes route for most of my required reading because many of the so-called "classics" were boring to teenaged me. As an adult, I've gone back to those classics, and guess what? Some of them--not EAP, of course--are still boring, although not nearly as many as I avoided in school.

I don't think there is an all-encompassing answer to the problem. If the parents have abdicated their responsibilities, there's little teachers will be able to do. And even with conscientious parents, barring a prison-like lockdown, someone like me will still burn the midnight oil.

[Cheryl]

In my opinion (mother of five educated, well-adjusted, happy kids) children got in a lot less trouble, did better in school, and were happier and healthier before parents abdicated the raising of their children to, well, their children.

Raise them, don't turn them over to TV's, computers, video games, cell phones, iPods. There should be nothing in their rooms but a bed and a dresser and a shelf full of BOOKS. Electronic intercourse needs to be restricted and supervised.

You're in charge. Or should be.

[Anca]

I bet this won't be better as time goes more and more gadgets comes to our homes and poor peoples can't eliminate electronic stuffs from bedrooms usually 1 tv set is everywhere.

Just my 2cents

[Mike Upchurch]

As a fairly newly retired public school teacher, I can attest to the truth of this article. I currently tutor for a national francise system and still see sleepy students no matter whether they come in for tutoring in the morning or afternoon. Way too many of my students are so sleepy at 9 AM they can't pay attention for over 60 seconds, can't acquire new skills, can't focus, and, of course, are not motivated to improve.
These same pupils openly tell me they were up half the night calling, text messaging, on the MySpace web site, or playing video games. Most say their parents don't really know what they are doing after bedtime. It's easy to put on headphones and keep things quiet, so parents are not aware how late these children are awake. Many of these pupils are 5th and 6th graders! It is not a problem confined to middle and high schoolers.
These sleepy students are NOT the exception; they are the norm. It is evidenced in over 50% of my pupils over the age of 12. It has become "cool" to brag to their peers that they were up most of the night. This is a serious problem, and it's only getting worse as more and more technology finds its way into the bedroom.

As I see it, the single biggest problem in education is the fact that most students do not read for pleasure anymore.
They have gotten used to TV, movies/video, and video game entertainment wherein they do not have to put forth effort (or immagination!) for the pleasure they get. This causes them to resent being forced to read class assignments, even the classics that have so contributed to shaping our culture, our language, and our common "national" knowledge. (I have repeatedly witnessed most high school students not reading even short assignments - like Edgar Allen Poe's works -despite motivational measures being taken. The brigher students would read a summary of the piece on the internet instead!) Most of the students I teach have dismal vocabulary skills. Though they are introduced to new vocabulary words each year, without using those words, without repeatedly reading them in context in literature, they lose almost everything they have been taught!

Parents, WAKE UP and remove those electronic devices from your child's bedroom. Grow a little backbone and take some control of the direction in which your child grows. If you have a 4th or 5th grader, get them one "Hardy Boys" or "Nancy Drew" book (or something more up-to-date) each month and expect them to read it. If you have an older child, take them to the public library, talk to the librarian to find what books are most popular, or , better yet, talk to your child and check out books they want to read based on their hobbies and interests. Subscribe to an age-appropriate magazine for your child. Be a part of the solution and not the problem. Your child's future depends on you taking charge.