Sleep in Adolescents: The Perfect Storm
Section snippets
Sleep patterns of adolescents
Adolescent sleep patterns have been surveyed by investigators in many countries from virtually every continent around the world, and a consistent finding is that the timing of bedtime on school nights gets later across the middle school and high school years (roughly ages 11 through 17 years).1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Rise times on school mornings, by contrast, tend to stay relatively consistent except in countries such as the United States where the starting time of
Adolescent development and sleep regulation
In describing the biologic regulation of sleep, current thinking uses the 2-process model, first proposed by Borbély.21 The 2 processes that comprise the model include a daily (circadian) rhythm of sleep propensity, thought to originate from the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus in mammals, and a sleep–wake pressure (homeostatic) system, for which a neuroanatomical locus has not been identified. In the case of the former process, the signal from the brain’s central clock is thought to
Psychosocial factors affecting adolescent sleep
Many psychosocial factors affect sleep patterns in adolescents and contribute to the phase delay and the decline of time slept. A few examples will follow, as well as an examination of how they interact with these biologic regulatory processes. A primary psychodevelopmental task of adolescents is to achieve independence in many areas of their lives. One area where this striving for autonomy is displayed is the decision of when to go to sleep. One sleep habits surveys from the early 1980s showed
The perfect storm: sleep behavior and troubling outcomes
Fig. 1 illustrates the confluence of factors that combine for adolescents in the 21st century to reduce time spent sleeping on school nights below a healthful amount, with waking and expected school performance timed to occur at an inappropriate circadian phase. As reviewed previously, bioregulatory and psychosocial forces collude to push sleep onset later, yet schools are timed to begin earlier across adolescence, and sleep time is compressed as a consequence. The list of negative outcomes
Acknowledgments
I thank the many colleagues, fellows, staff, and families who have contributed to the research from my group that is summarized in this paper. In addition, I acknowledge support from the National Institutes of Health, including MH45945, MH52415, MH58879, HL71120, MH076969, MH079179.
References (44)
- et al.
Sleep and sleep habits from childhood to young adulthood over a 10-year period
J Psychosom Res
(2002) - et al.
Sleep characteristics of adolescents: a longitudinal study
J Adolesc Health
(1993) - et al.
Effects of anabolic androgenic steroids on the development and expression of running wheel activity and circadian rhythms in male rats
Physiol Behav
(2007) - et al.
Intrinsic circadian period of adolescent humans measured in conditions of forced desynchrony
Neurosci Lett
(1999) - et al.
Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents
Sleep Med
(2010) - et al.
Sleep patterns of high school students living in Sao Paula, Brazil
- et al.
A survey of junior high school students’ sleep habit and lifestyle in Okinawa
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
(2001) - et al.
Prevalence of sleep/wake disturbances in Sidney adolescents
Sleep Res
(1987) Patterns of sleep and sleepiness in adolescents
Pediatrician
(1990)- et al.
Sleep and adolescence. Do New Zealand teenagers get enough?
J Paediatr Child Health
(2006)