Homework, social networking, friends, late sports practices and hormonal changes all contribute to teenagers staying up late on school nights. A new study suggests that teens that go to bed late at night may not just experience academic problems, but emotional ones as well.
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley included 2,700 teens in grades 7 to 12 who were apart of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. About 30% of the teens said they went to bed later than 11:30 p.m. on school nights and 1:30 a.m. in the summer.
As their sleep habits and circadian patterns were analyzed, researchers found that the teens who went to bed later than 11:30 p.m. on school nights and 1:30 a.m. in the summer had lower GPAs than teens who went to sleep earlier. The teens who were night owls also experience more emotional distress.
The findings strengthen previous research results on teenagers and sleep. The researchers stress the importance of implementing strategies to get teens to bed in order to reduce associated functional impairments, and improve academic and emotional outcomes.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens (ages 10-17) need 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep every night for optimal performance levels. Promote sleep in your household for lifelong healthy sleep habits.
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