Wake-up call: Teens running on too little sleep

Screening and treating adolescents for sleep problems is necessary, but many factors can prevent a good night's sleep.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 27, 2005.

When Judith A. Owens, MD, MPH, went to a local high school earlier this year to talk about the importance of getting a good night's sleep, she was dismayed to find a coffee concession in the lunch room. "Ostensibly, it's for the teachers," said the associate professor of pediatrics at Brown Medical School, Providence R.I. "But I don't think it sends the right message. Kids need to understand that caffeine is a drug, and it's not a substitute for sleep."

Dr. Owens, who specializes in sleep medicine, is part of the growing chorus of alarm about the fact that many teenagers do not get adequate rest and this shortcoming is not good for them. To address the problem, parent groups across the country are increasingly lobbying for later school start times, and physicians are raising their index of suspicion regarding teen sleep issues.

"Adolescents don't get enough sleep, and there's a price that they pay for that," said Carl E. Hunt, MD, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health. "Sleep needs to be part of our health care information that we discuss with our adolescent patients."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in conjunction with NCSDR, published a technical report in the June Pediatrics urging physicians to quiz teen patients about how much and how well they sleep, counsel them about good sleep hygiene and be alert to the possibility of sleep disorders. The rationale for focusing physician attention on sleep matters is a result of mounting evidence that documents the significant impact sleep loss has on overall health as well as the ability to study, participate in extracurricular activities and drive safely.