I remember the day I dozed off while driving on the freeway in LA and caught myself right before I hit the center divider.

It was a truly frightening experience, but all I remember was that I was extremely tired that day. I was focusing on many different things in high school - I was a very serious violinist, I played basketball for my school team, I was in all Honors classes, and

Oh.

I was NOT getting enough sleep.

Luckily for me, I avoided a very serious accident, but a countless number of car accidents are caused by sleep deprivation. Data in regards to these accidents and the relationship to sleep has started a crucial movement led by many sleep associations around the country. Dr. Yishan Xu and Julie Dahl, the president of the Minnesota Sleep Society and a Clinical Nurse Practitioner, discussed the many contributing factors to why middle and high schools should push back school start times.

Most importantly, melatonin is a hormone that manages the sleep-wake cycle, and is secreted in larger amounts during our teenage years. This is just a natural cycle in human development and is often the reason why teenagers are mistaken as being “lazy”. Teenagers will just naturally fall asleep later and wake up later because melatonin is secreted later during this time in their development! 

Amazing right?

Data and research shows not only that sleeping helps tremendously with alertness and focus, but that sleep is also crucial for protecting mental health and curbing substance abuse. Data also shows the direct impact that later school times have in the decrease in auto accidents in certain counties! Julie Dahl suggests that teens should be able to sleep until at least 8am and schools should not start until at earlier 8:30am, as supported by research done in various school districts across the country.

So, if you are having trouble getting your teenagers to bed at a reasonable hour, just remember that it is completely normal at this point in life for them to be “night owls” and have an enormous sleep schedule. While many people want their children to take advantage of all the extra time during the day and “lengthen” their hours of productivity, these years are important for their development in healthy sleep patterns while protecting their mental health and their lives!

Getting sufficient sleep is so important to teens!

Learn more about how insufficient sleep may negatively impact teens, and what parents, school, and teens can do to improve sleep quality, you can listen to Dr. Xu’s interview with Julie Dahl: How does later school start time help our teens be happier and healthier? (Episode 014, Deep into Sleep Podcast)

Thanks Laura for organizing this blog article.

This article is brought to you by Mind & Body Garden Psychology —- Psychological services available in multiple languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese): 650-434-2563 (Voicemail only); admin@mindbodygarden.com. We are out-of-network providers, HSA/FSA accepted. Send us a text message on the phone, or call us and leave a voicemail.

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