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By Naomi Thomas, CNN
The amount of a teenager's sleep is associated with the likelihood that they will adopt risky and suicidal behavior, according to a new study.
"Less sleep hours per night of middle school [is] are associated with an increased likelihood of all selected dangerous behaviors, "wrote the authors, including risk-taking while driving, such as drunk driving, potentially dangerous sexual activities, aggressive behavior and the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
The sleep duration of participants was classified as eight hours or more, seven hours, six hours or less than six hours, and then measured against high-risk behaviors, in the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. .
The team found the strongest associations in mood and self harm. Teenagers who slept less than six hours per night were three times more likely to report suicide, to plan a suicide attempt, or to try to do so compared to adolescents who slept eight hours or more. They were also four times more likely to have reported a suicide attempt that had led them to need treatment.
Researchers used data from February 2007 to May 2015 from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, an American survey exploring behaviors related to health risks for young people, and found that over 70% of high school students had less than eight recommendations. hours of sleep per night.
"Previous reports have shown that high school students who slept less than eight hours were at increased risk for negative behaviors," said Matthew Weaver, Harvard Medical School Medical Instructor and Associate Epidemiologist, Sleep and Respiratory Division. Circadian disorders of Brigham. and Women's Hospital, who led the study. "Our study adds to this literature by using a larger updated dataset over a longer study interval and incorporating more detailed information about sleep and examining a broader range of risk behaviors."
The size of the sample and the categorization of sleep duration were beneficial for the study, according to Reut Gruber, director of the Attention, Behavior and Sleep laboratory at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. Gruber was not involved in the study.
"I think that reinforces what we believe to be the case," said Gruber, "I'm not sure that each of the conclusions is completely a surprise or novelty, but that certainly validates what we think. with other studies, they could be much smaller, or the sample might not be selected correctly, could be biased, so I think the methodology in terms of sampling and sample size is a real asset. "
Weaver and Gruber both note that the limitations of the study include the fact that the data are self-reported by the participants and that the research does not show a cause-and-effect relationship between sleep and risk behaviors. higher.
Gruber advises parents to respect the sleep schedule of their children, because teens are not always able to manage their own sleep and may not know when is the best time to turn off the lights.
"I think my message to parents is that it's a priority, it will make a huge difference in their children's lives, as well as in their performance, mood and behavior," Gruber said. "My experience, my impression, is that we still have to give priority to parents, just like what we do with other things we know are unhealthy for kids."
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