I wrote the following story for the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer in Raleigh; it appeared in both newspapers on Oct. 18, 2011. It appears here in expanded form, with links. Check out yesterday’s post for more on teens and sleep.

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It’s 11 o’clock on a school night! you yell at your teen. You need to go to bed!

But I’m not tired! your wide-awake teen protests.

Well … go to bed, anyway! you reply, frustrated.

Frustrated, because your teen obviously isn’t tired, and just because he needs to get up in seven hours to make the 7:15 a.m. school bell,  it’s not like you can force him to sleep. Even more frustrating when you learn that science is on his side.

“There are certain times of day when teens are most alert,” says Dr. Tracey Marks, an Atlanta psychiatrist and author of “Master Your Sleep: Proven Methods Simplified.” Attribute this to a circadian clock driven in large part by the hormonal explosion common during the teenage years.

“They have a dip in late afternoon,” says Marks, “but experience a late-day surge that takes them through 9 or 10 o’clock.”

“They open that sail and ride that wind,” she adds. “They really can’t get to sleep. They can accumulate quite a sleep debt.”

Quick math explains the problem: Research on various fronts — including that by the National Sleep Foundation — says teens need 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours of sleep every night, the majority of high school students in Triangle area schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools need to be to school by 7:30, a post 11 p.m. bedtime and 6 a.m. wake-up yields just seven hours of sleep, leaving a nightly deficit of roughly two hours.

What’s a teen — and a teen’s parent — to do?

1. Determine individual sleep needs. There’s a 45-minute range in that 8 1/2-9 1/4 recommendation — and that range only applies to the “typical” teen. Some need more, some less. Susan Kuczmarski, author of “The Sacred Flight of the Teenager: A Parent’s Guide to Stepping Back and Letting Go,” says a good first step in determining a teen’s specific sleep needs is to have them keep a sleep journal.  “Get them to record when they went to bed, when they got up, how much sleep they got and how they felt when they got up,” says Kuczmarski. Basically, if they get up before the alarm goes off, they’ve gotten enough sleep; if they repeatedly slap the snooze button, they need more sack time. Marks suggests conducting this experiment over several days during vacation, when you don’t have to wake by a certain time.

2. Tinker with time. Once you determine how much sleep junior needs, do a back-out plan. If he does best on 9 hours and needs to be up by 6:30 a.m., he needs to get to bed by 9:30 p.m. Part of what’s keeping him up past 11 is that circadian clock, which is set by daylight. Dr. Marks is a fan of fooling Mother Nature by using a light box, a device that replicates the blue light of sunlight (frequently prescribed to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder — SAD — and depression). Turn on the light for 15 to 30 minutes every morning, she says, and the body will adjust accordingly, waking up earlier and thus, tiring out earlier in the evening.

Dr. Marks doesn’t pull punches: “It will be painful initially.” “Put one in the bathroom or where you’ll be getting ready for school,” she advises. The exposure will help shut down the body’s production of melatonin the hormone that regulates sleep and waking cycles.

3. An exercised body is a tired body. Get your teen to exercise after school. “Exercise promotes sleep,” says Kuczmarski. (It also keeps them busy during that crucial period between 2 and 4 p.m., when teens are most likely to get into mischief.) “It relaxes the body.” But don’t let them exercise within an hour of bedtime; exercise stimulates the body by raising the core body temperature.

4. Wind down before bed. No cell phones, no computers, no TV within an hour of bedtime. The light emitted by these devices can be stimulating, says Marks. “We need a  mental wind-down period,” she says. Read a book (textbooks are often effective sedatives), meditate, listen to music (“Something low key,” advises Marks. “You don’t want them listening to gangsters.”)

5. Quantity vs. quality. Staying in bed for nine hours is good only if it’s a quality nine hours — that is, the restive sleep that lets the brain run its gamut of restorative phases. To that end: avoid caffeine (especially the new breed of so-called energy drinks loaded with the stuff), sugar (especially a few hours before bedtime) and drink 16 ounces a day of “tart cherry juice.” “It’s thought to increase melatonin production,” says Marks. (But don’t drink it too close to bedtime, lest you be making a bathroom run in the middle of the night.) Also, keep the bedroom temperature at a sleep-friendly 68-70 degrees.

6. Lobby for the benefits of sleep. Lack of sleep can: lead to inattention and thus, poor grades; affect performance in sports; cause weight gain; contribute to acne and other skin problems; make you grouchy; lead to social ineptitude during an already trying phase of social development); inhibit production of growth hormones (leading one, in the delicate words of Dr. Jacob Tietlebaum, Hawaii-based author of “From Fatigued to Fantastic!” to be a “late bloomer”). Hopefully, say the experts, one of these motivations will take.

7. Cut ‘em some slack on weekends. Yes, mom and dad, your teen can make up a sleep deficit on the weekend — to an extent. “Let your kids get a couple of extra hours of sleep on the weekends,” suggests Kuczmarski. A couple hours, she emphasizes — “not sleeping in until 1 in the afternoon.”

8. It it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Getting enough sleep is all good and well, says Dr. Tietlebaum, but parents need to remember that teens are “adults in training” — they need to figure out what works on their own. Present them with the facts, provide suggestions for what they can do, but let them make make the decisions. “Ask them the question, ‘How’s that working for you?’”

“If they’re getting good grades, if they’re not getting into trouble,” says Dr. Tietlebaum, “leave them alone.”

The post It’s true! Your teen really does need to sleep in on weekends appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sleeping and driving. According to a report by the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep and Teens Task Force: “Drowsiness or fatigue has been identified as a principle cause in at least 100,000 police-reported traffic crashes each year, killing more than 1,500 Americans and injuring another 71,000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1994). Young drivers age 25 or under cause more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes.  A North Carolina state study found that drivers age 25 or younger cause more than one-half (55 percent) of fall-asleep crashes … 78% were males. The peak age of occurrence was 20.”

Teen sleep needs. Adolescents require at least as much sleep as they did as pre-adolescents — in general, 8.5 to 9.25 hours each night. (Mary Carskadon, Brown University, et al., 1980)

Up all night (or, the vampire thing). Adolescents’ sleep patterns undergo a phase delay, that is, a tendency toward later times, for both sleeping and waking. Studies show that the typical high school student’s natural time to fall asleep is 11 p.m. or later. (Amy R. Wolfson, College of the Holy Cross, and Carskadon, 1998)

Your kids are right — school does start too early. Most high schools in Charlotte and the Triangle start between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. The National Sleep Foundation advocates “Legislation to encourage starting high schools no earlier than 9 a.m.” The NSF also supports graduated licensing regulations to reduce the number of adolescents driving unsupervised at night (already in place in North Carolina) as well as child labor laws to restrict the number of hours and the time of day that adolescents are permitted to work.

What, did some high school kid come up with that 9 a.m. thing? No. The University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement has studied the issue (Kyla Wahlstrom and C.M. Freeman, 1997) and found that in high schools that start later:

• In suburban districts, students gain an extra hour of sleep each school day.
• Teachers report that more students are alert during the first two periods of the day, and fewer students fall asleep at their desks.
• More homework gets done during school hours because students are more alert and efficient during the day.
• Attendance increases and tardiness decreases.
• Some students reported eating breakfast more frequently.
• Teachers in suburban districts report noticeable improvements in student behavior: quieter hallways between classes and less misbehavior in the lunchroom.
• Counselors from suburban schools describe the school atmosphere as “calmer,” and report that fewer students seek help for stress relief due to academic pressures. (Urban teachers, however, observed no general improvement in student behavior.)
• A downside in urban districts: fewer students were involved in extracurricular and social activities, and the later school schedules resulted in conflicts or compromised earnings for students who worked after school.

Less time for afternoon mischief. National studies and analysis of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveal that on school days, 45 percent of juvenile violent crime takes place between 2 and 8 p.m., with the sharpest rise occurring between 2 and 4 p.m. (Wahlstrom and Freeman, 1997; CSPV, 1998). (A 9 a.m. start would mean students being in school until about 4 p.m.) Also during these times: unsupervised adolescents are more likely to engage in acts of violence, as well as sex and recreational use of alcohol or drugs.

Pointers for Parents. From the National Sleep Foundation Sleep and Teens Task Force come these suggestions for parents to help their teens get a full night’s sleep.

• Educate yourself about adolescent development, including physical and behavioral changes you can expect (especially those that relate to sleep needs and patterns).
• Look for signs of sleep deprivation and sleepiness in your teens. Signs include: difficulty waking in the morning, irritability late in the day, falling asleep spontaneously during quiet times of the day, sleeping for extra long periods on the weekends.
• Enforce and maintain age-appropriate sleep schedules for all children.
• Talk with your kids. Look at their extracurricular and employment activities and see how it affects their sleep patterns. If there’s a problem, work with them to adjust their schedules to allow for enough sack time.
• Provide a home environment conducive to healthy sleep. Establish a quiet time in the evening when the lights are dimmed and loud music is not permitted. Do not allow use of the television, computer and telephone within an hour of bedtime. Keep the evening temperature of your house a sleep-friendly 68  to 70 degrees.
• Get enough sleep yourself. Even sleeping, you can be a good role model.

Tips for Teens. Here’s what the National Sleep Foundation Sleep and Teens Task Force suggests for teens.

• Sleep is food for the brain. Lack of sleep can make you look tired and feel depressed, irritable or angry. Even mild sleepiness can hurt your performance — from taking school exams to playing sports or video games. Learn how much sleep you need to function at your best … and strive to get it every night. You should awaken refreshed, not tired.
• Establish a routine, with a regular bedtime and wake time, and try to maintain that routine through the school week, the weekend, on those ubiquitous teacher work days and on vacation.
• Get into bright light as soon as possible in the morning, but avoid it in the evening. Light signals to the brain when it should wake up and when it should prepare to sleep.
• Understand your circadian rhythms. Then you can try to maximize your schedule throughout the day according to your internal clock.
• After lunch/noon stay away from caffeinated coffee and colas.
• Relax before going to bed. Avoid heavy reading, studying and computer games within one hour of bed. Don’t fall asleep with the television on — flickering light and stimulating content can inhibit restful sleep.

The post More tips for teen sleep appeared first on GetGoing NC!.