Teenagers’ Sleep Patterns Prove Insufficient

According to a recent study, teenagers are not getting enough sleep. And generalising the data is not an exaggeration. It appears that once they turn 15 or older, teens are beginning to get less and less sleep.

This phenomenon also has a name given by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health: The Great Sleep Recession they called it. All the details are given in a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

“Declines in self-reported adolescent sleep across the last 20 years are concerning and suggest that there is potentially a significant public health concern that warrants health education and literacy approaches,”

Katherine M. Keyes, from Columbia University said.

More than 270,000 teens in eighth, 10th and 12th grades had been subjects for this study, between 1991 and 2012 that found that teens are getting less and less sleep. It appears that the average amount of sleep is 7 hours per night, that’s 2 hours less than the 9 hours of sleep they are ideally recommended.

It seems that African-American and Hispanic boys are the most sleep-deprived. The reason for this is not really known. Researchers believe that the increased social media on the Internet, doubled by the pressure and competition involving the college admissions process are two opposite, yet equally important factors that raise children’s anxiety levels and forbid them from getting a good night’s sleep.

Moreover there’s also the homework’s pressure that stays in the way of the youngsters’ sleep. Some kids, along with their parents get really stressed about getting it done perfectly. Instead they should stop doing that, as it affects a child’s sleep quality.

Also they found that girls, teens in urban areas and of low socioeconomic status, or minority teens were all less likely to get at least seven hours of sleep than male, white teens.

The CDC reported that roughly 70 million Americans are currently suffering from chronic sleep problems.  According to this study, once a teenager gets to suffer from sleeping problems, this can very well trigger the  increase of issues such as: problems at school, mental health issues, and weight gain, which is known to be directly influenced by lack of sleep, rest and piece of mind.