MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) 鈥� The topic of a new course at Mansfield Senior High School is one that teenagers across the country are having trouble with: .
One ninth grader in the class says his method is to scroll through TikTok until he nods off. Another teen says she often falls asleep while on a late-night group chat with friends. Not everyone takes part in class discussions on a recent Friday; some students are slumped over their desks napping.
Sleep training is no longer just for newborns. Some schools are taking it upon themselves to teach teenagers how to get a good night鈥檚 sleep.
鈥淚t might sound odd to say that kids in high school have to learn the skills to sleep,鈥� says Mansfield health teacher Tony Davis, who has incorporated a newly released sleep curriculum into a state-required high school health class. 鈥淏ut you鈥檇 be shocked how many just don鈥檛 know how to sleep.鈥�
Adolescents burning the midnight oil is nothing new; teens are biologically programmed to stay up later as their circadian rhythms shift with puberty. But studies show teenagers are more sleep deprived than ever, and experts believe it could be playing a role in the and other problems plaguing schools, including behavioral and .
鈥淲alk into any high school in America and you will see kids asleep. Whether it鈥檚 on a desk, outside on the ground or on a bench, or on a couch the school has allotted for naps 鈥� because they are exhausted,鈥� says Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education. Pope has surveyed high school students for more than a decade and leads parent sessions for schools around California on the importance of teen sleep. 鈥淪leep is directly connected with mental health. There is not going to be anyone who argues with that.鈥�
How much sleep do teens need?
Adolescents need between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night for their developing brains and bodies. But get less than that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has tracked a steady decline in teen sleep since 2007. Today, most teens average 6 hours of sleep.
Research increasingly shows how tightly sleep is linked to mood, mental health and self-harm. Depression, anxiety and as sleep goes down. Multiple studies also show links between insufficient sleep and sports injuries , teen driving accidents, and , due in part to impaired judgment when the brain is sleepy.
For years, sleep experts have sounded an alarm about an adolescent sleep crisis, joined by the , the , the CDC and others. As a result, some school districts have shifted to later start times. Two states 鈥� California and Florida 鈥� have passed laws that require high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. But simply telling a teenager to get to bed earlier doesn鈥檛 always work, as any parent can attest: They need to be convinced.
That鈥檚 why Mansfield City Schools, a district of 3,000 students in north-central Ohio, is staging what it calls 鈥渁 sleep intervention.鈥�
鈥楽leep to Be a Better You鈥�
The district鈥檚 high school is piloting the new curriculum, 鈥淪leep to Be a Better You,鈥� hoping to improve academic success and reduce chronic absences, when a student misses more than 10% of the school year. The rate of students missing that much class has decreased from 44% in 2021 but is still high at 32%, says Kari Cawrse, the district鈥檚 attendance coordinator. Surveys of parents and students highlighted widespread problems with sleep, and an intractable cycle of kids going to bed late, oversleeping, missing the school bus and staying home.
The students in Davis鈥� classroom shared insights into why it鈥檚 hard to get a good night鈥檚 sleep. An in-class survey of the 90 students across Davis鈥� five classes found over 60% use their phone as an alarm clock. Over 50% go to sleep while looking at their phones. Experts have urged parents for years to get phones out of the bedroom at night, but national surveys show most teens keep their mobile phones within reach 鈥� and
During the six-part course, students are asked to keep daily sleep logs for six weeks and rate their mood and energy levels.
Freshman Nathan Baker assumed he knew how to sleep, but realizes he had it all wrong. Bedtime meant settling into bed with his phone, watching videos on YouTube or Snapchat Spotlight and often staying up past midnight. On a good night, he got five hours of sleep. He鈥檇 feel so drained by midday that he鈥檇 get home and sleep for hours, not realizing it was disrupting his nighttime sleep.
鈥淏ad habits definitely start around middle school, with all the stress and drama," Baker says. He has taken the tips he learned in sleep class and been amazed at the results. He now has a sleep routine that starts around 7 or 8 p.m.: He puts away his phone for the night and avoids evening snacks, which can disrupt the body鈥檚 circadian rhythm. He tries for a regular bedtime of 10 p.m., making sure to close his curtains and turn off the TV. He likes listening to music to fall asleep but has switched from his previous playlist of rousing hip hop to calmer R&B or jazz, on a stereo instead of his phone.
鈥淚 feel a lot better. I'm coming to school with a smile on my face," says Baker, who is now averaging seven hours' sleep each night. 鈥淟ife is so much more simple."
There are scientific reasons for that. Studies with MRI scans show the brain is under stress when sleep-deprived and functions differently. There is less activity in the pre-frontal cortex, which regulates emotions, decision making, focus and impulse control and more activity in the emotional center of the brain, the amygdala, which processes fear, anger and anxiety.
Parents and teens themselves often aren鈥檛 aware of the signs of sleep deprivation, and attribute it to typical teen behavior: Being irritable, grumpy, emotionally fragile, unmotivated, impulsive or generally negative.
Think of toddlers who throw temper tantrums when they miss their naps.
鈥淭eenagers have meltdowns, too, because they鈥檙e tired. But they do it in more age-appropriate ways,鈥� says Kyla Wahlstrom, an adolescent sleep expert at the University of Minnesota, who has studied the on teen sleep for decades. Wahlstrom developed the free sleep curriculum being used by Mansfield and several Minnesota schools.
Social media isn't only to blame
Social media has been blamed for fueling the teen mental health crisis, but many experts say the national conversation has ignored the critical role of sleep.
鈥淭he evidence linking sleep and mental health is a lot tighter, more causal, than the evidence for social media and mental health,鈥� says Andrew Fuligni, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-director at UCLA's Center for the Developing Adolescent.
Nearly 70% of Davis' Mansfield students said they regularly feel sleepy or exhausted during the school day. But technology is hardly the only reason. Today鈥檚 students are overscheduled, overworked and stressed out, especially as they get closer to senior year and college applications.
Chase Cole, a senior at Mansfield who is taking three advanced placement and honors classes, is striving for an athletic scholarship to play soccer in college. He plays on three different soccer leagues and typically has practice until 7 p.m., when he gets home and needs a nap. Cole wakes up for dinner, then dives into homework for at least three hours. He allows for five-minute phone breaks between assignments and winds down before bed with video games or TV until about 1 a.m.
鈥淚 definitely need to get more sleep at night,鈥� says Cole, 17. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 hard with all my honors classes and college stuff going on. It鈥檚 exhausting.鈥�
There aren鈥檛 enough hours in the day to sleep, says sophomore Amelia Raphael, 15. A self-described overachiever, Raphael is taking physics, honors chemistry, algebra and trigonometry and is enrolled in online college classes. Her goal is to finish her associate degree by the time she graduates high school.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to have to pay for college. It鈥檚 a lot of money,鈥� says Raphael, who plays three sports and is in student council and other clubs.
She knows she鈥檚 overscheduled. 鈥淏ut if you don鈥檛 do that, you鈥檙e kind of setting yourself up for failure. There is a lot of pressure on doing everything,鈥� said Raphael, who gets to bed between midnight and 2 a.m. 鈥淚 am giving up sleep for that.鈥�
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Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press
