"Junk sleep" damaging teenagers' health

[johnnymk]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...SLEEP-TECH.xml

LONDON (Reuters) - British teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep because they are distracted by electronic gadgets in their bedrooms, according to a survey on Tuesday.

Advice body The Sleep Council said "junk sleep" could rival the consumption of unhealthy junk food as a major lifestyle issue for parents of teenage children.

Its poll of 1,000 youngsters aged 12 to 16 found that 30 percent managed just 4 to 7 hours sleep as opposed to the recommended 8 or 9 hours.

Almost a quarter said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.


"This is an incredibly worrying trend," said Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.

"What we are seeing is the emergence of Junk Sleep - that is sleep that is of neither the length nor quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school."

Nearly all the teenagers had a phone, music system or TV in their bedroom, with around two-thirds possessing all three.

Almost one in five of the teenage boys said the quality of their sleep had been affected by leaving their TV or computer on. The survey also found that 40 percent of youngsters felt tired each day, with girls aged 15 to 16 faring the worst.

However just 11 percent said they were bothered by the lack or quality of sleep.

"I'm staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and how they feel during the day," Idzikowski said.

"Teenagers need to wake up to the fact that to feel well, perform well and look well, they need to do something about their sleep."

[uncledaddy]

Hell, I do that just with this PC and the net.

[Maarchk]

Thats interesting. I can see the lack of sleep issue but i dont know how connected i make it to the toys. A phone sitting by itself doesn't keep you up... And my grandparents would always put on an old movie and fall asleep to it. Thats what the sleep timer is for.
I agree that when i stay up late playing GB with GA people i tend to feel sleepy the next day, but it has nothing to do with the device simply existing... It has to do with me using the device actively when i should be fast asleep.

I also read a study that says if guys have a cute girl in their bed, they tend to use their tv, sound system, and phone, a lot less...

[zippyjuan]

Things like TVs and computer monitors can mess with your sleep by exposing your eyes to light- making your body think it is still daylight out and thus change your circadian rhythm- making it want to go to sleep later. So using your TV or computer at night can make it harder for you to get to sleep. SInce you can't sleeep, maybe you will watch a bit more- adding to the problem. Another study showed that with the growth going on in teens (both in brain and body) that they probably actually require more than the average eight hours of sleep- perhaps as many as ten.

[johnnymk]

Thats interesting.

I also read a study that says if guys have a cute girl in their bed, they tend to use their tv, sound system, and phone, a lot less...

What about an ugly girl?

[zippyjuan]

I guess you keep the lights off and fall asleep afterwards.