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Let Teenagers Sleep

scientificamerican.com

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61–70 of 497 posts

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#61

Post by seeEllArr »

solveit wrote: post #44
fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #17

As a teenager I was diagnosed with "ADD". Very intelligent, but unable to focus or complete assignments. My life habits were carb heavy unhealthy food (from the cafeteria), soda, lack of sleep due to long school commute, not much exercise As an adult, I eat no carbs, all meat and vegetables, I work from home and sleep in as far as I need every night. My thinking is laser sharp. They tried to medicate me with all sort…

> My guidance counseler suggested I dont attend college, just a community college (despite the fact that I got admitted to a decent state school) What's wrong with guidance counselors in American high schools? Why do I keep hearing about them giving kids incredibly stupid advice?

[dead]

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#62

Post by murphyslab »

agomez314 wrote: post #12

Is smartphone/digital screen attributable to some degree to teenager's late-night habits, and therefore a need for later school times?

The issue has existed since well before widespread availability of smartphones and cheap laptops.

Here's a clinical review from 2003 (largely citing studies from the late 1990s) where the same issues were already clear:

http://web.mit.edu/writing/2010/July/Wolfson%26Carskadon2003...

One major part of the problem is that teens tend to go to bed at the same time regardless of when school starts the next day. Hence those students in school districts with earlier start times simply get less sleep, resulting in more irregular sleep schedules. In turn, that leads to worse cognitive performance.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#63

Post by thatjoeoverthr »

tptacek wrote: post #7

One big reason this shift isn't happening is that it creates coordination problems: for many families, everyone leaves for school at the same time, so if you move grade 9 forward an hour, you have to do the same with grade 4 to get any benefit; the 9th grader is taking the 4th grader to school. That problem stopped this shift dead recently where I live.

So find another solution to the coordination problem.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#64

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

krolden wrote: post #35
Analemma_ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, IIRC Boston actually tried this, and the uproar from parents whose schedules were thrown into disarray was so intense it had to immediately be walked back. It sucks, but there are broader considerations at play.

Sounds like parents have too much to worry about since both parents have to work or their house will be foreclosed on. Ive read some speculation that the women's right to work movement was just a ploy to double the workforce. Not only that, thet get double the workers for less money since nearly all women are paid less than their male counterparts.

I want to counter the “women’s right to work movement was just a ploy to double the workforce” because it implies that there is a double meaning or some wild conspiracy. In reality, women being financially independent is highly protective against financial abuse. Financial Abuse occurs in the vast majority of domestic violence cases and a majority of victims who return to their abusers do so because of financial insecurity. With the additional risk that the majority of women who are murdered are murdered by their abusive partners, a woman’s right to work is a matter of survival. That it has additional consequences societally, such as workforce doubling, doesn’t mean that there aren’t women behaving independently for their own benefits more so than there are “they” who manipulate half the population for some nebulous capitalist gain.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#65

Post by juve1996 »

djcannabiz wrote: post #19
jenadine wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not going to sleep earlier?

in the article: „And around puberty, their circadian clocks shift by a couple of hours, meaning they get tired later at night than before and wake up later in the morning than they used to. This shift reverses at adulthood.“ I agree with you somewhat that there is some personal responsibility required here, but I disagree that the answer here is so simple as going to sleep earlier.

Did the article cite the source for this and maybe I missed it? It says a lot of things and "countless studies" but curiously doesn't list all of them.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#66

Post by marginalia_nu »

jobs_throwaway wrote: post #25
marginalia_nu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can solve that by going to bed earlier too, but I doubt my teenager self would have listened to that.

Its more than just rebelliousness. Teens' circadian rhythms are naturally shifted towards falling asleep later in the evening and waking up later in the morning.

The cicadian rhytm doesn't actually know what the clock on your wall says, only when you eat and get daylight. A late cicadian rhytm is functionally equivalent with poor sleep hyhiene.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#67

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #7

One big reason this shift isn't happening is that it creates coordination problems: for many families, everyone leaves for school at the same time, so if you move grade 9 forward an hour, you have to do the same with grade 4 to get any benefit; the 9th grader is taking the 4th grader to school. That problem stopped this shift dead recently where I live.

[deleted]

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#68

Post by legitster »

> And around puberty, their circadian clocks shift by a couple of hours, meaning they get tired later at night than before and wake up later in the morning than they used to. This shift reverses at adulthood. The biological nature of this daily rhythm means that sending a teenager to bed earlier won’t necessarily mean they fall asleep earlier.

It's not clear to me that this shift is actually biological in nature, or trained in from years of habit. I still have friends who never got jobs or careers after high school. Now into their 30s they are staying up regularly to 3-4am. If anything, their circadian rhythm has further extended.

If this is the case, "letting teenagers sleep in" might just offset that habit correction into the college years, or the early career years, or etc. Or constitute a permanent change in circadian rhythm for that generation.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#69

Post by Eumenes »

Kids can also go to bed earlier. When they leave the protected confines of public education, the world won't bend to your schedule (maybe with the rise of the 4 day work week being talked about on linkedin every other day). Every teen in my family is up till 2/3am on weekends, playing video games with friends, streaming something. All good, but best not for a school night. I'd be pretty tired too if I stayed up every work night till 2/3am. Perhaps try to read before bed, or go for a walk.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#70

Post by robg »

Really amazing that two key bugs in schools work actively hurt the brain’s ability to learn, remember, focus, and make decisions:

1. Long school days mean brains are overworked and so don’t function well 2. Multi month summer breaks actively overwrite what was learned the prior year

When will schooling be built to best optimize brain power?

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