Dealing with sleep loss in teens

Late many nights, after the neighbourhood has gone dark and most adults are asleep, a silvery glow emanates from beneath two bedroom doors in the house. This invariably worries a parent – not because anything weird is going on, but because it means the kids are setting themselves up for yet another tired day. Teenagers entertain themselves by text-messaging their friends or surfing the Web before falling asleep.

Already blamed for problems ranging from obesity to distractibility, tech gear is now being faulted as a cause of sleep loss in teens. In a recent blog, a physician who advises Consumer Reports on medical issues, Orly Avitzur, says as many as one-half of all teens show symptoms of insomnia, and their computers, iPods and cell phones are often to blame.

One study found students with four or more electronic entertainment devices in their bedrooms are twice as likely to fall asleep in school or while studying, Dr Avitzur says. Fatigue is not the only consequence: Otherwise healthy teens who sleep poorly are at much higher risk of developing high blood pressure, a significant health risk. It is time, Dr Avitzur writes, for parents “to have a serious sleep talk with their kids.”

Should parents ban tech gear from the bedroom? Good sleep hygiene requires keeping bedrooms dark and quiet at bedtime and reserving that space primarily for sleep. Parents may worry that their kids are often tired and they may have had that ‘serious sleep talk’ with them many times. But they should leave the choice to them. They have usually been working nonstop all day, finishing homework as late as 10 pm. They my need time to unwind befor they are ‘able’ to sleep.

The Wall Street Journal