Sleep starts later as teens age, but school still starts early

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2014

Contact: David Orenstein
Brown University
Sleep starts later as teens age, but school still starts early
New study shows how sleep patterns change

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A newly published study used activity monitors to track how sleep habits changed in younger and older teens as they grew during a two-year period. Key findings, for instance that the children fell asleep later as they matured and resisted sleep longer after the nightly onset of hormonal sleep signals, lend new support to recent recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that middle and high schools avoid starting earlier than 8:30 a.m.

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Tracking the changing sleep patterns of children as they age is important because numerous studies have found that teenagers don't get enough sleep. The negative effects researchers have found can include poor academic performance, mood disturbances, depression, obesity, and even drowsy driving accidents among older teens.

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What of weekends? The volunteers got considerably more sleep than on weekdays, despite falling asleep later and later with age. That's because were able to sleep later.

The typical kid in the study moved to a later sleep/wake cycle with aging, except during the week, when later waking was not possible, most likely because of early school bells. The 18-year-olds in the study slept dramatically longer on weekdays than they did when they were younger because they had graduated from high school.

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