Risky teen sleeping habits discussed

Research finds sleep deprivation impairs decision making and judgement

posted January 28, 2008

by Allison Coleman of Campanile

Hannah McGovern

Research scientist Mark Rosekind present research findings on effects of sleep deprivation to Palo Alto parents. According to Rosekind, teenagers require nine to ten hours of sleep in order to function fully.

Mark Rosekind, president and chief scientist of Alertness Solutions, spoke to students and parents from Palo Alto schools about the importance of sleep at Palo Alto High School on Jan. 9.

During his presentation, Rosekind covered everything from the risks associated with not getting enough sleep and the biological factors that create these risks, to what people need to do to avoid sleep deprivation.

Rosekind began his talk by mentioning the societal pressures to stay awake for longer than is considered healthy. He showed a picture of a bulletin board at Mountain View High School that read, "Sleep is for Slackers."

"We're expected to operate around the clock, but our bodies are just not designed for this," Rosekind said.

Some people, such as Joan Jacobus, the mother of two Gunn students, were surprised by how much sleep a person really needs.

"I learned that most of us need to be getting a lot more sleep than we are," Jacobus said.

According to Rosekind, one result of too little sleep is that a person's reaction time slows by 25 percent, a dangerous amount of time for a sleepy driver. Judgment and decision-making are also negatively affected by loss of sleep, which might prompt a person to decide to drive knowing that it might not be safe.

"Sleep deprivation makes people make riskier choices," Rosekind said.

According to Rosekind, over one million car crashes each year are caused by a sleep-deprived driver, more crashes than those related to drugs or alcohol.

Losing four hours affects a person as negatively as consuming five to six beers, which equates to a blood alcohol level of about .095 percent, a definite DUI.

"It doesn't matter who you are," Rosekind said. "You lose sleep, there is a cost."

Besides causing people to make poor decisions, lack of sleep negatively affects mood and causes lapses in attention to increase in frequency by up to 500 percent, which, according to Rosekind, explains the blank stares on students' faces in first and second periods.

"Most teenagers need nine to ten hours of sleep every night, but very few teenagers actually sleep for that long," Rosekind said.

This was new information for many parents.

"I was surprised when I heard him say that teenagers need nine to ten hours of sleep," Walsh said. "I didn't realize it was that much."

The times when people are most tired are determined by an internal timer, called the circadian clock, which regulates when a person feels sleepy or more alert. Most adults feel sleepiest from three to five in the morning. In teenagers, this clock can shift depending on bedtime and especially on when they wake up. A teen could feel sleepiest from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. - when he or she would have to be waking up to go to school.

Symptoms of this delayed sleep phase are a late "fall asleep" time and trouble waking up in the morning, Rosekind said.

A phenomenon related to sleep deprivation is called Sunday Night Insomnia, according to Rosekind. This occurs when people stay up late on the weekends and sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. On Sunday night, people have trouble readjusting to falling asleep and waking up earlier,so they have trouble sleeping Sunday night.

The way to avoid sleep deprivation is to have good "sleep hygiene," which means having regular wake-up times and using a regular pre-sleep routine.

Rosekind also recommended naps if people are not able to achieve the right amount of sleep at night. A nap should be 40 to 45 minutes long, according to Rosekind, and people should allow 15 minutes of "wake-up" time after napping.

"He was a phenomenal speaker," Diana Walsh, a parent of students at Paly, Jordan Middle School and Addison Elementary School, said. " He obviously had a good deal of knowledge on the subject, and he was very engaging when talking about a subject that could have made us all a little sleepy."

Suzie Lincoln, the mother of students attending Gunn High School, Terman Middle School and Nixon Elementary School, agreed with Walsh.

"He was very dynamic and he did a great job giving a lot of information," she said.