Are Teens Too Sleepy?

Are Teens Too Sleepy?


Mark tweeted on this fascinating article by Maria Christensen in Seattle about teens, sleep, and school start times suggesting students would do better in school and life if we’d just let them stay in the sack until, oh, 9 a.m. or so. Here’s the key quote:

What this means for teens in terms of school is that teenagers are getting up earlier than biology would dictate in order to get to school on time, and that is having a major affect on their lives. Mary Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and director of chronobiology and sleep research at E.P. Bradley Hospital in Providence, R.I., notes in an interview with Frontline that “teenagers are really put in a kind of a gray cloud when they aren’t having enough sleep. It affects both their mood and their ability to think and their ability to perform and react appropriately. So we have kids out there who struggle to stay awake while driving, who could do better at sports if they could react more quickly, who are feeling blue and having trouble getting along with the adults in their environment, and also who are struggling to learn in the classroom.”

This stands in stark contrast to the conventional wisdom most parents of teens would like to apply to their kids from Proverbs 6:9: “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?”

But maybe we need to give a little more grace about the classic late night/early morning power struggle. Personally, my small Christian high school didn’t start classes until 8:45 a.m. back in the day—and that was enough to convince me of the value of staying away from the public school option that started classes before 7:30 a.m. (I’m sure my parents based their decision on more profound considerations.)

What’s your approach to getting them up in the morning? Does your school day start too early? Too late? Too groggy? What does wisdom have to say to your student about going to bed and getting up “in the way they should go”?


Daily Prayer

Ask God to help your family with proper balance and rest.