Parents and mental health professionals have long been concerned about the effects of poor sleep on children and adolescents. An article in Medical News Today (6/11/08) titled, “Poor Sleep Can Affect A Student's Grades, Increase Emotional, Behavioral Disturbance,” examines this issue. The article reports on a study that recorded the sleep habits and behaviors of 882 high school freshmen. The results were sobering. “Students reported sleeping, on average, 7.6 hours per school night, with 48 percent reporting less than eight hours. Hours of sleep per school night were significantly positively associated with GPA and level of motivation, and significantly negatively associated with clinically significant levels of emotional disturbance and ADHD. Each additional hour of sleep on school nights lowered the odds of scoring in the clinically significant range of emotional disturbance and ADHD by 25 percent and 34 percent, respectively.” The results of this study strongly support the idea that inadequate sleep in adolescents is detrimental to their mental health and well-being.
The Bottom Line: This study strongly supports the idea that lack of sleep is detrimental to the mental health and well being of adolescents. Good sleep hygiene is strongly recommended.
Reference: Original article
Suggested Reading:
- Good Night Sleep Tight: The Sleep Ladys Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy by Kim West and Joanne Kenen (Paperback - Jan 9, 2006)
- Don't Stop Loving Me: Reassuring Guide For Mothers of Adolescent Daughters by Ann F. Caron (Paperback - Jan 29, 1992)
- Getting a Good Night's Sleep (A Cleveland Clinic Guide) (Cleveland Clinic Guides) by Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer (Paperback - May 1, 2006) - Illustrated Transforming the Difficult Child by Howard Glasser and Jennifer Easley (Paperback - Jun 1, 1999)
- Ten Natural Ways to a Good Night's Sleep by Nikos Linardakis (Hardcover - Sep 19, 2007)
Additional Resources:
- For related articles on adolescents and sleep on the Web, click on: “Sphere: Related Content” located at the bottom of this blog post.
- For related books or blog posts with related content in Dr. Jeff’s and Dr. Tanya’s Blog, go to “Psychiatry: Adolescents and Young Adults”or type in the keyword “adolescents and sleep” into “Google Search” located in the sidebar.
- For related articles from Psychology Today, click on the “Psychology Today” banner in the side bar and type in the keyword, “adolescents and sleep ” into the Psychology Today “Search”.
- For more books with related content, click any hyperlinked keyword in the blog or type in the keyword, “adolescents and sleep” into “Amazon Search” on the Amazon banner located in the side bar.
Parenting Support Group: http://getparent.com/
Dr. Jeffrey Speller
Dr. Tanya Korkosz
Psychopharmacology Associates of New England
Comments