Teens love to sleep. But how long and deep should their sleep be for good health? New studies in collaboration with investigators at the Division of Research find that poor sleep habits in adolescents may increase their risk for obesity and heart trouble down the line.
A study published in Pediatrics tracked 829 adolescents over 7 to 10 days using electronic measuring devices. Sleep time, quality, and physical activity for youth ages 12 to 16 were recorded, along with 5 factors associated with cardiovascular risk: waist circumference, blood pressure, HDL or “good” cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin resistance.
According to first author Elizabeth Cespedes Feliciano, ScD, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, it was found that very few teens get the kind of sleep they need to protect their future health. Her research shows that those who sleep less tend to have more body fat, elevated blood pressure, and less healthy cholesterol levels.
“Adolescence is a time when you form habits that impact your later risk of cardiovascular disease,” she said. “So, children may be developing cardiovascular risk profiles that they are going to carry forward with them into adulthood.”
Quantity, Quality, and Timing
A follow-up study reveals even more details. “We saw that the quantity and quality of sleep matter,” Feliciano said. “Preliminary results of our next study suggest that the timing of sleep matters, too.”
Feliciano and her colleagues are looking at teens’ intrinsic preferences for morning or evening wakefulness. “Most teens like to go to bed late — their inner clocks are telling them to go to sleep later and wake later — but their work, school, and social obligations are causing sleep loss because they still have to rise early.”
This misalignment of biological and behavioral sleep timing is known as social jetlag. Like the disruption and disorientation that comes from moving across time zones, it’s a form of circadian misalignment. “It’s that difference between teens’ preferences for when to go to bed, when to eat, when to be active, and socially imposed behaviors. We hypothesize that teens who prefer to be awake in the evening experience more social jetlag and have more body fat,” Feliciano explained.
10 Tips for Better Sleep
Fortunately, noted Feliciano, numerous measures can improve teens’ sleep.
1. Sleep at the Right Time
To combat social jetlag, it’s important that teens develop a consistent sleep schedule that ensures they log enough hours between the sheets.
2. Sleep Enough
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teens aged 13 to 18 get 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night. Research shows they’ll have healthier immune systems and better school performance, behavior, and memory.
3. Sleep Well
Good-quality sleep is generally characterized by the ability to fall asleep within 30 minutes, sleep soundly through the night, and drift back to sleep within 20 minutes when sleep is disrupted.
4. Set a Schedule
Eating late at night can cause insomnia, heartburn, digestive difficulties, and extra trips to the bathroom. Keeping to a regular daily routine for waking, meals, and activities supports teens’ circadian rhythms.
5. Practice Good Sleep Hygiene
“It’s important that adolescents have a quiet, dark, and cool room to sleep in,” said Feliciano, since environmental factors like noise can also influence sleep.
6. Lighten Up
Much as a darkened room promotes better sleep, a brightened one helps rouse the body. Exposure to bright light in the morning can make teens feel less drowsy.
7. Eat (and Drink) Smart
Caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and nighttime eating can impact sleep quantity and quality. Teens should avoid alcohol and nicotine entirely, limit caffeine intake, and avoid caffeine in the evening. Allowing several hours between the last main meal of the day and going to bed can also help promote a good night’s sleep.
8. Stay Active
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids engage in plenty of interesting and varied activities, including exercise and fresh air, to promote good sleep and general health.
9. Limit Screen Time
One of the biggest factors disrupting teen sleep, according to Feliciano, is the prevalence of electronic devices in the bedroom at night. And this is not only because their online activity engages them emotionally and mentally. “Screens emit blue light, which has been shown to delay the onset of melatonin secretion,” she said. Turn off TVs, computers, tablets, game stations, and phones an hour before bedtime.
10. Recognize Sleep Problems
Parents should take note if their teens lack alertness during the day, resist going to bed, have difficulty falling asleep, wake often at night, snore, have sleep apnea, or breathe heavily or loudly while sleeping. A discussion with the child’s doctor may be warranted to treat any problems. Feliciano added, “Parents need to know that sleep is important, just like diet and physical activity, for obesity prevention and the overall health of their kids.”
This Post Has One Comment
While I agree with most of the recommendations above, I disagree with some of the items in the eat smart category.
I think plant-based foods containing Vitamin B6, such as carrots, spinach, sweet potato, green peas, bananas, chickpeas, avocado, and fortified cereals should be encouraged. As well as for calcium sources, poppy, sesame and chia seeds, beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens, dried fruit, tofu, amaranth, edamame, and figs, and for protein sources legumes, beans, lentils, quinoa, seitan, nutritional yeast, and peas. The meat and dairy industry in our society uses a lot of antibiotics for the animal feed so I don’t necessarily think promoting food from these industries is a good idea. I feel that limiting these animal foods and opting for a more plant-based diet is optimal for good health.