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Raising Night Owls
How to Save Your Teen from Sleep Deprivation By Kelly Burgess
Dr. Simon explains that every human has a natural biological clock that, among other things, tells us when to sleep and when to wake. This "clock" is governed by the sun, not by the alarm clock. In addition to requiring more sleep than children or adults, teenagers typically have altered biologic rhythms that vary the time of night they sleep well and times during the day when they're most alert. These rhythms operate on a roughly 16-hour-on, eight-hour-off phase. In other words, when the clock is "on" we're awake; when it's "off" we're supposed to sleep. Teens have a longer "off" time, and, because of their schedules, their biological clock is programmed by those schedules to turn on and off on its own unique schedule.
This is how it works. Typically, during the week teens don't get much sleep. For example, if a teenager goes to bed at 10:30 p.m. and wakes up at 6:30 a.m., that's eight hours of sleep. However, teens need nine to 10 hours. Then on Friday and Saturday, he stays up until midnight or later and sleeps until noon the next day. At noon,he finallyis exposed tohis first bright light of the day. This tells the biological clock that the day starts at noon. Well, if the day starts at noon (the biological clock figures), then it should end about 14 hours later at 3 a.m.!
Then Sunday night rolls around and Mom tells him to go to bed at 10:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the teen's biological clock won't turn off for four more hours, so it's nearly impossible for him to fall asleep. So he tosses and turns, sneaks on the TV, calls his friends or hides under his covers with a good book and a flashlight. Gee, wonder why he's so tired at 6:30 a.m.when it's time to get up for school?