Teens, parents challenged by screens when it's time to sleep

Of the parents who tell pollsters that their teens have trouble sleeping, 23% say children wake up at night worried about their social life. A third worried about the school. The nighttime access to electronic devices only makes the problem worse, say the sleep scientists.

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Three days after starting high school this year, my grade nine student could not go to bed before eleven o'clock. or wake up at 6 in the morning. He complained that he could not fall asleep but felt foggy during the school day and had to re-read the lessons several times a night to complete his homework. And forget the morning activities on weekends – he was in bed.

We are not the only family fighting to keep our eyes closed.

"What parents share with us is that the" normal life "of a US high school student interferes with sleep," says Sarah Clark, co-director of the nation's national child health survey. 39, University of Michigan at the University of Michigan.

In a survey of 2,000 parents of different ethnicities and backgrounds that Clark and his team published this month, 1 in 6 parents say their teenager often has sleep problems – having trouble to fall asleep or stay 3 nights or more

More than half of parents say it's because their teenagers are not going out of their electronics and 43% assign irregular schedules to homework and activities.

A significant percentage of parents say that their children are worried about school (31%) and 23% say that their teenagers do not care anymore about their social life.

It's likely that the number of teens who have trouble sleeping is even higher than the parent survey, says Clark, because kids can hide their use of nighttime electronics and parents do not consult often older children.

How can parents help? Start by knowing what children need.

The average American teen sleeps seven hours a night, stuck between homework, outdoor activities, dinner and perhaps a job. But research suggests that teens need more than nine hours.

Unfortunately, even their bodies work against them, says Mary Carskadon, a long-time sleep researcher and professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University. As children grow up in the middle and in adolescence, they are naturally inclined to go to bed later and sleep later in the morning. But a beginning of school does not allow it.

"If the children's body clocks change later and the school starts earlier, there is no more time to recover," said Carskadon.

She and Clark have evidence-based advice for tired teens and their parents:

• Put the electronics out of reach and out of reach. Research has long shown that the time spent in front of a screen hurts a good sleep, because it stimulates and that the "blue light filters" that minimize the most painful part of the spectrum will be of no help if you are stress. So, do everything you need to keep your sleep free from electronics. "If I were an entrepreneur, my system would quickly become the welfare of family technology," says Carskadon. (There are already some phone records in the works or on the market that can do the business.)
• Instill a regular bedtime routine. Try turning off the lights at the same time and waking up at the same time, even on weekends, as the evidence shows that you can not really "catch up" with the lack of sleep on the weekends.
• Sleep masks are useful but avoid long naps. Sleep masks can help create a supportive sleep environment, says Carskadon, just as it can be difficult to keep sleepy kids from taking time. nap late in the afternoon. A 20-minute nap can be refreshing, but longer sleep sessions during the day can make rest more difficult at night. "The children who suffer the most at night are those who go to sleep at school, go to the nurse's office and pour a bowl of Cheerios and fall asleep", says Carskadon.
• Limit caffeine – even more than you already do. After school, many teens take a soda or energy drink to feed the rest of the afternoon. But it makes bedtime more difficult on time, making tomorrow even more difficult. Disturbances add up. In the Mott survey, 54 percent of parents saw their teenage caffeine curb in the evening, notes Clark, though she suggests cutting it earlier in the day or even completely.
• Shoot the loaded calendar. This is contrary to what many parents of high school students and some students themselves think they have to do to enter the university. But does your teenager really need to play at school, to show up at a student council and to be the starter of the high school football team? "Choose one," says Carskadon.
• Teach time management. If you do not have four hours to do your homework at night, divide it into chunks. "If you have 45 minutes before your activity, go to the library and eliminate one or two topics," suggests Clark.
• Before you try a sleeping pill, talk to your doctor. The Mott survey suggests that parents often turn to remedies like melatonin and over-the-counter medications like Tylenol PM or NyQuil. But Clark encourages parents and teens to discuss it first with a doctor. Melatonin is not always gentle or effective, and scientists still do not know much about its long-term effects, according to the National Institutes of Health. And mass consumption of over-the-counter drugs can create habit and make the liver difficult.
• Continue the policy changes. Most sleep scientists say it would be healthier for older children to start school later in the morning than most US school districts. The California legislature passed a bill last month demanding that most colleges and high schools not start until 8:30 pm by 2021, but Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it Thursday. Such a change at the national level will not come easily. "The problem of the start time of classes is very difficult," notes Carskadon. Many teachers are fighting him, and working parents may not be able to change their schedules and other child care obligations.

Meanwhile, Clark and Carskadon say the most effective thing parents can do is listen to our children, talk to them about their sleep problems and help them set a regular sleep schedule. It's never too early (or too late) to find healthy ways to relieve daytime stress that can disrupt sleep at night, no matter what your age.

Best idea for the moment, parents: we can set a good example by putting our own electronic devices – really outside – at bedtime.