Describe the sleep patterns of teenagers today. Discuss sleep deprivation and sleep rebound

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: At puberty, revisions occur in the way the brain regulates the timing of sleep, perhaps because of increased neural sensitivity to evening light. As a result, adolescents go to bed much later than they did as children. Yet they still need about nine hours of sleep. When the school day begins early, their sleep needs are not satisfied. This sleep “phase delay” strengthens with pubertal growth. But today’s teenagers—with more evening social activities, part-time jobs, and bedrooms equipped with screen media—get much less sleep than teenagers of previous generations. Sleep-deprived adolescents display declines in executive function and both cognitive and emotional self-regulation. As a result, they are more likely to achieve less well in school; suffer from anxiety, irritability, and depressed mood; and engage in high-risk behaviors that result in motor vehicle collisions and arrests for delinquency. Sleep rebound on weekends sustains the pattern by leading to difficulty falling asleep on subsequent evenings. Later school start times ease but do not eliminate sleep loss. Educating teenagers about the importance of sleep is vital.