Strath Haven Faculty Prioritizing Sleep Strath Haven High School Brad Wolgast, PhD, CBSM University of Delaware
Welcome! Who are you? • Faculty? Here from other schools/communities? • How many of you remember falling asleep in class during high school? • How many of you have teenagers of your own? • Raise your hand if your son or daughter falls asleep before 9pm? • Before 10pm? • Before 11pm? • Before Midnight?
And the next morning? • What time does your • Next, ask yourself, “Am son or daughter wake I sure they are asleep up for the day? that whole time?” • Before 7:00? • Then, do the math • Before 6:45? • Before 6:15? • Before 6:00?
What about me? • Attended Temple University, doctorate in psychology, and board certified in behavioral sleep medicine • Work at University of Delaware – college student sleep disorders, especially insomnia, and everything else • My Sleep disorder • My passion is sleep, and here’s a the worst kept secret in my field: high schoolers have a terrible set up for sleep…
What if…. • Your students could change one thing in one hour a day and… • Increase their SAT and ACT scores? • Increase their GPA? • Become better athletes, musicians, or just be funnier? • Become more interested in their lives? • Decrease their likelihood of car accidents? • Become a better friend?
Adolescent Sleep Needs How many hours of sleep do you think are optimal for adolescents and young adults? 8.5 – 9.25 hours Only about 9% of adolescents get at least 8 ½ hours of sleep each night. On average, most teens sleep 6.75 hours on school nights 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 (Carskadon et al., 1980; National Sleep Foundation, 2009)
What are the culprits? Who is doing this to the kids? What do you think?
First, why does sleep matter? What worsens when young adults aren’t getting enough sleep? • Worsened thinking skills – cognition • Worsened academic performance and GPA • Worsened emotional control • Worsened motor skills – think: driving a car • Worsened perceptive skills • Worsened ability to make good decisions, reasoning • Worsened ability to learn, and make memories of new information • Worsened ability to do simple arithmetic • Worsened ability to fight off colds – the immune system weakens
Why does sleep matter? • On the other hand, some things get better with less sleep! What are they? • Increased ability to gain weight without trying • More impulsivity • More toxins in the brain • More accidents and errors • More prone to depression • Metabolic and endocrine problems (think: diabetes) • Increase the risk for dementia • Increased likelihood of heart disease • Increase the risk of multiple types of cancer
Specifically Adolescents • Irritability / Behavior Problems (Beebe, 2011; Sadeh et al., 2002; Stein et al., 2001) • Depression / Suicidal Ideation (Buysse et al., 2008; Clarke et al., 2015; Liu 2004; Roberts & Doung, 2014; Silverstein, 2013) • Substance Use (Bootzin & Stevens, 2005) • Poor Decision making and risk taking (Baum et al., 2014; Venkatraman et al., 2007 ) • Compromised School Achievement (Eide & Showalter, 2012; Wahlstrom, 1999, 2002) • Tardiness & Missed School (Owens et al, 2010) • Poor Concentration / Memory Retention (Baum et al., 2014; Lufi et al., 2011; Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998) • “It takes a sleepy student 5 hours to complete 3 hours of homework.” Judith Owens, MD
How Does Your Brain Experience limited sleep?
What about the Brain? • Anger ! • Sleep loss primes us to focus on negative experiences, misinterpret facial expressions and pick fights • This happens because sleep debt cuts the connection between your amygdala and your medial prefrontal cortex
What about the Brain? Donuts! Bacon! • Sleep loss corresponds with decreased activity in the frontal lobes, which controls decision making • AND more activity in the amygdala – a key player in fear detection • Put together, these changes create a brain mechanism that dulls judgement and ratchets up desire which can lead to hunger
What about the Brain? • Donuts! Bacon! • In addition, when you don’t sleep enough you get • More Ghrelin! – This hormone increases hunger • Less Leptin! – This hormone tells you when you are full • The result???
What about the Brain? Funny? Not so Funny • Sleep loss impacts divergent thinking – which helps us switch topics easily – and think of different or unusual things: key elements in humor. • Extra effort in the inferior frontal gyrus shows that tired brains are straining to keep up with standard cognitive function
What about the Brain? Risky Decisions • In a study, when sleep deprived people prepared to risk their money they expected to win more than those who weren’t sleep deprived. • When they lost their money, their brains had a diminished reaction (in the anterior insula) to losing compared to those who had slept well
Why is this happening?
Adult Human Biological Clock (Smolensky and Lamberg, 2000)
Human Biological Clock: Adult vs. Adolescent Adolescent melatonin secretion stops 09:00 22:30 Adolescent melatonin secretion starts
To put it in perspective… • As far as what it feels like for your brain…. • Your son or daughter waking up at 6:45 am is about the same as you or I waking up to go to work at about • 5:15 am (two hours and fifteen minutes before our melatonin production ends) • Also: you can then go to bed more easily that night than your son or daughter.
What Can Be Done? Beyond Sleep Hygiene • 8 Strategies for helping • Be cautious of quick sleep you and your students hygiene forms. • Sleep hygiene should be get better sleep personalized to be useful. • We will begin in the • Consider this: Keep your afternoon and work our bedroom dark. way through the night • Does anyone here have a household member who has any trouble waking up? • Guess what?
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (1) Napping • Napping is an amazing way to boost brain power • Late naps diminish people’s ability to fall asleep at bedtime • A nap immediately after school for 20-40 minutes works!
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (2) Bed is for Sleep • If you are studying or using electronic devices in bed – you are making it harder for your brain to know when it’s time to go to sleep…
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (3) Caffeine is not a teen’s friend • Caffeine hides fatigue temporarily • Any caffeine can interrupt the development of the brain at least before the age of 18 • ( AAP says: none is best ) • Caffeine lasts in your system for how long?
What Can Be Done? (3) Caffeine is not a teen’sfriend • How much caffeine? • Coke can, 12 oz/35 mg • Coke bottle, 20 oz/58 mg • Monster Energy Drink 160 mg/16 oz • 5-hour Energy, 2 oz, 200 mg • McDonald’s McCafe 16 oz, 145 mg • Dunkin’ Donuts 16 oz, about 300 mg (increased in 2015) The FDA recommends an adult consumes no • Starbucks 16 oz, 330 mg more than 100-200mg of caffeine in a 3 to 4 hour period, and not more than 400 mg/day
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (4) Shower before bed • How many of your kids shower before bed instead of in the morning? • Serves a double purpose….
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (5) Powering Down • Use a blue light eliminator on ALL electronic devices after dinner (auto-set) • f.lux, nightshift
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good night: (5) Powering Down • Power down and turn devices off an hour before bed • Yes, really! It actually works! • If not an hour, at least 30 minutes • This clears the head and helps promote sleep
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good day: (6) Wake up well • How Awesome is My Snooze Alarm!?!?
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good day: (6) Wake up well • Q: How do you make the last ten minutes or hour of sleep essentially worthless? • A: Snooze
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good day: (6) Wake up well • What if you could choose your morning: • either sleep until 6:45am or • be woken up three times between 6:20 and 6:45am • What do you choose? Clocky, the runaway alarm clock, $30.
What Can Be Done? Prepare for a good week: (7) Avoid Jet Lag • Weekend Jet Lag • Any guesses?
If the rate for adults is 2 in 3, what do you think the rate is for high school students?
Sleeping in on weekends is normal and can help you catch up, but sleeping beyond two hours past school day rise times will lead to Jet Lag
So what do the experts say? School should start after 8:30 am for 6 th through 12 th grades. - National Sleep Foundation, 2009 - Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, 2013 - American Academy of Pediatrics, 2014 - American Medical Association, 2016 - Center for Disease Control, 2016 - And many more
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