2. Borlase, Gander, and Gibson (2013) stress the importance of sleep for teenagers. They often get less sleep than younger children, but need at least as much. Results from previous studies are shared, stating the importance of sleep during this time in a teenager’s life. “Sleep loss is related to lower academic performance, lower self esteem, higher incidence of depressive symptoms, increased substance use, and an association with being overweight” (Borlase et al., 2013, p. 46). Daytime tiredness …show more content…
Technology, described as “at least one entertainment or communications technology” (Borlase et al., 2013, p. 49) increased from 80.7% in 1999 to 96.4% in 2008. In 2008, there was a significant inverse relationship between the number of technologies and total sleep time. Also, daytime sleepiness was reported higher in Year 9 students that also reported having multiple technologies in the bedroom. Overall, total sleep time was affected by the increase of technologies in the bedroom and an earlier school start time, especially in Year 9 students. However, when the school transitioned to a later start time for senior students, total sleep time for Year 12 students in 2008 was much higher than Year 12 students in 1999. Furthermore, the 2008 students were also less likely to report sleep loss on weeknights and fewer incidents of daytime sleepiness. In conclusion, despite a lower perceived sleep need than their 1999 counterparts, Year 12 students in 2008 greatly benefited from a later start time.
8. If moving school start time back has positively affected this many senior students, then this school should consider moving the school start time back for all of its students. Furthermore, if bedroom technologies are harmful to the total sleep time of teenagers, then all families should consider what technologies and how many are in the