In a recent NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams series, “The Teen Brain: A Work in Progress,” Dr. Nancy Snyderman examined the impact of sleep deprivation on teenagers. On average, teens are sleeping two full hours less than recommended for adolescent according to a new poll—focused on the connection between technology use and sleep—conducted by the National Sleep Foundation.
About 61% of generation Z’ers are getting less than eight hours of sleep each night. Over half wake between 5:00 and 6:30 am and over 80% go to bed at 10:00 pm or later. To make up for their groggy, sleep deprivation during the day, teens are turning to caffeinated beverages (about 3 per day on average) to help them wake up. And, teens tend to sleep longer on the weekend to “catch up” on lost sleep.
Teens not getting enough sleep can interfere with their brain development and increase their chances of developing cognitive problems, heightened risks for obesity, immune problems and depression. In the NBC segment, Dr. Mary Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and director of Chronobiology and Sleep Research at Bradley Hospital, says, “…sleep has a fundamental role in protecting and growing and strengthening the brain—and strengthening what we’ve learned.”
Dr. Jay Giedd, a neuroscientist and chief of the Unit on Brain Imaging in the Child Psychiatry Branch, says, “…all the things that the frontal lobes of the brain help us do—control impulses, make long-term decisions, sort out complicated priorities—get worse with sleep deprivation.”
Sleep helps humans organize the information we gather during the day. Poor sleep habits and growing technology temptations such as tesxting, computer games, the Internet, etc. could be negatively impacting teenagers in the long run.
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