Burning candles

While Dr. Carskadon’s research suggests that it is physiologically easier for teenagers to stay up later, it doesn’t mean that we need fan the flame by making it any easier. The result of one study has shown that teenagers got more sleep if their parents had set a bedtime ... even if it wasn’t enforced. They got even more if it was enforced.

In the recent University of Minnesota studies, 88% of the students had cell phones in their bedrooms. Other studies have shown that having a television or other electronic distraction in the bedroom delays sleep onset and shortens sleep duration. Clearly, there is abundance of room for change in the sleep onset side of equation if we want our teenagers to be less sleep deprived. But, parents need to initiate the change.

Unfortunately, some of this research has spawned a myth that teenagers are biologically predestined to stay up late and sleep late, and, there’s nothing we can do about it. The armed services have disproved this myth many times over. I’m not suggesting we turn our schools into boot camps. But, any community that is considering a delayed high school start time should make it part of broad and frank discussion about sleep hygiene. Merely allowing teenagers to sleep an extra hour doesn’t even address half of the problem of sleep deprivation.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics including "How to Say No to Your Toddler."