MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — The topic of the new course at Mansfield Senior High School is one that teenagers across the country have problems. How to sleep.
One of the ninth graders in the class says his way is to scroll through Tiktok until he nods. Another teen says she often falls asleep in late-night chats with friends. Not everyone will be taking part in the recent Friday class discussion. Some students are depressed over their nap.
Sleep training is no longer just for newborns. Some schools accept it to themselves to teach teenagers how to get good night sleep.
“It may sound strange to say that high school kids have to learn the skills to sleep,” says Tony Davis, a health teacher at Mansfield, who has incorporated the newly released sleep curriculum into state-enhanced high school health classes. “But you’ll be shocked at how many people don’t know how to sleep.”
The youth burning oil in the middle of the night is nothing new. Teens are biologically programmed to continue to happen later as their circadian rhythm changes to adolescence. However, research shows that teenagers are now more deprived of sleep than ever, and experts believe it plays a role. Mental health crisis for young people and other issues that bother schools, including behavior. Attendance issues.
“When you step into American high schools, you’ll see your kids sleeping. On desks, outside the ground, on benches, or on a sofa, schools are assigned to nap. The Pope has researched high school students for over a decade and leads parent sessions at schools around California on the importance of teenage sleep. “Sleep is directly related to mental health. No one will discuss it.”
How much sleep do teens need?
Adolescents need 8-10 hours of sleep each night for their developing brain and body. but Nearly 80% of teenagers It tracks a steady decline in teens’ sleep since 2007, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Research has increasingly shown how closely sleep is linked to mood, mental health and self-harm. Depression, anxiety and The thoughts and actions of suicide increase As sleep slows down. Studies also show links between lack of sleep and sports injuries and athletic performanceteenage driving accidents, and Dangerous sexual behavior and substance usein some cases, it is the cause of impaired judgment when the brain becomes sleepy.
For years, sleep experts have been wary of adolescent sleep crisis; American Medical Association, American Academy of PediatricsCDC, etc. As a result, some school districts moved to later start times. Two states, California and Florida, have passed laws requiring high schools to start high schools before 8:30am, but ordering teens to go to bed early doesn’t always work, so that parents can prove it. They need to be certain.
That’s why Mansfield’s school, a 3,000-student district in northern and central Ohio, is staging what it calls “sleep interventions.”
“Sleep to get better”
District high schools are piloting a new curriculum, “Get Sleep,” in hopes of improving academic success and reducing chronic absences when students miss more than 10% of the academic year. District attendance coordinator Kari Cawrse said the percentage of students who lost their classes fell from 44% in 2021, but at 32%. Parent and student research highlighted the wide range of issues with sleep, as well as the cumbersome cycle of sleeping late, falling asleep, missing the school bus and staying home.
Students in Davis’ classroom shared insights into why sleeping soundly is difficult. A in-class survey of 90 students in Davis’ five classes found that over 60% use their phones as alarm clocks. Over 50% fall asleep while looking at their phones. Experts have been urging parents to take their phones out of their bedrooms at night, but domestic research shows that most teens keep their phones out of reach – and Many people fall asleep with their devices.
In the six-part course, students are asked to maintain their daily sleep logs for six weeks and assess their mood and energy levels.
Freshman Nathan Baker assumed he knew how to sleep, but realizes that he had done it all wrong. Bedtime meant that I was awake after midnight, calming down in bed on my phone, watching videos in the spotlights on YouTube and Snapchat. Good night, he got 5 hours of sleep. He was very dasing by noon and felt he would go home and sleep for hours.
“Bad habits definitely start around middle school with all the stress and drama,” Baker says. He takes tips he learned in his sleep class and is amazed at the results. He now has a sleep routine that begins at about 7 or 8pm. He cleans up his phone in the evening and avoids the evening snacks. He attempts regular bedtime at 10pm, closes the curtains and turns off the TV. He likes to fall asleep to listen to music, but instead of his phone, he switched to calm R&B and jazz from his previous playlists that had thrilled hip-hop with stereo.
“I’ve been feeling much better. I’m coming to school with a smile,” says Baker, who sleeps an average of seven hours each night. “Life is easier.”
There is a scientific reason for this. Studies using MRI scans show that the brain is exposed to stress during sleep deprivation and function differently. In the prefrontal cortex, there is less activity that regulates emotions, decision-making, focus, and impulse control, regulates activity in the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, and processes fear, anger, and anxiety.
Parents and teens themselves often do not recognize any signs of lack of sleep, and attribute it to typical teenage behavior. They are either irritated, gross, emotionally vulnerable, unmotivated, impulsive or generally negative.
Think of a toddler who throws a tantrum when he misses a nap.
“Teens have meltdowns because they’re tired too, but they do that in a more age-appropriate way,” says Kyla Wahlstrom, an adolescent sleep expert at the University of Minnesota. Benefits of delayed school start times For decades about teen sleep. Wahlstrom has developed a free sleep curriculum used in Mansfield and several schools in Minnesota.
Social media is not just about responsibility
Social media has been criticized for driving the mental health crisis in teens, but many experts say that public conversations ignored the important role of sleep.
“The evidence linking sleep with mental health is much closer and causal than social media and mental health evidence,” says Andrew Fuligni, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-director of UCLA, co-director of developing adolescents.
Almost 70% of Davis’ Mansfield students said they regularly feel sleepy or exhausted during school daytime. But technology isn’t the only reason. Students today are overscheduled, overworked and stressed, especially as they get closer to senior year and university applications.
Mansfield senior Chase Cole takes three advanced placement and honor classes, but is looking for an athletic scholarship to play soccer in college. He plays in three different soccer leagues and practices until 7pm, where he usually needs to go home and take a nap. Cole wakes up for dinner and then dives for homework for at least three hours. He allows a five-minute phone break between assignments and the wind before going to bed on video games or on TV. Until 1am
“I definitely need to get more sleep at night,” Cole says. “But it’s difficult for my honor class and college to go on. It’s exhausting.”
Second-year student Amelia Rafael doesn’t have enough time to sleep at age 15. A self-explained overseaver, Raphael employs physics, honorary chemistry, algebra and trigonometry, and is enrolled in online university classes. Her goal is to earn an associate degree by the time she graduates from high school.
“I don’t have to pay for college, that’s a lot of money,” says Rafael, who plays three sports and is at the Student Council and other clubs.
She knows she’s been switched. “But if you don’t do that, you’re like setting yourself up for failure. There’s a lot of pressure to do everything,” said Raphael, who sleeps between midnight and 2am.
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