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Depression Linked to Bedtimes
Filed under: In The News
Does your teen have a bedtime? Photo: husin.sani/Flickr
Not only is the idea that older kids need less sleep erroneous, a new study by Columbia University Medical Center finds that teens who don't get enough sleep may be risking their mental health. This first-of-its-kind study examined the effects of bedtimes on the mental health of children and found that teens who stay up after midnight during the week are 42% more likely to become depressed and 30% more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their peers who go to bed by 10 pm or earlier.
"We feel like we can just eat into our sleep time, but we pay for it in many different ways," says James Gangwisch, lead researcher of the study.
The data used in this study comes from National Institutes of Health surveys from 1994 to 1996. But considering the distractions teens face today -- texting, social networking and gaming -- chances are that many teens are even more sleep-deprived than ever.
Research has shown that although teens need as much as nine hours of sleep per night, they generally get only about 7½. How many hours does your teen get?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-15-2009 @ 2:57PM
Pierce Hibma said...Great article with great information. My question is what is the best way to get your kid to go to bed on time? It's hard for them to understand the logically reason why so is it best to offer some sort of incentives? Or should there be some sort of punishment if they don't make it to bed on time? Thoughts...
http://HSSSblog.com
Reply
6-15-2009 @ 10:32PM
Rachel said...You could just try showing them this article, but a lot of teens I know would just blow it off anyway (speaking as a 19 year old).
6-15-2009 @ 9:51PM
Lena said...I'm not totally sure if I agree, I only get 3 or 4 hours a night and I'm the healthiest in my family. Everyone else sleeps in really late BTW.
Reply
6-17-2009 @ 11:01AM
Melissa said...As a highly motivated 16 year old who does not sleep enough, I must say that it is hard for me to go to sleep on time because of all the things I do. My junior year was filled with AP US and AP English work; I even had to drop track in order to complete everything. I still went to sleep at like 12, 1 , or 2 am. I had to still wake up by 6am. People can blame TV or procrastination, or some may even say don't do so much work but that homework must be done and colleges do not want kids who just did the bare minimum. So if I go crazy then I can blame school- maybe not.
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7-02-2009 @ 6:54PM
Paige Neversleeps said...I sleep 1-2 hours each night and I am always thinking I have some sort of condition, Bipolar? Or something? But Then again I also believe I am Insomnic, and I have anger issues, thats no doubt.
I dont know why I have all these so called issues. But I also never sleep.