Junk Sleep: the new health threat to teenagers

11 September 2007

That’s the startling conclusion of a Sleep Council survey* of 12 to 16-year-olds. It found the unprecedented boom in teenage-owned entertainment gadgetry is having a detrimental effect on the length and quality of their sleep.  

With the start of the new school year just days away, the online poll of 1,000 youngsters found many are not getting enough sleep during the night before a school day with nearly one in three (30%) achieving just four to seven hours’ sleep instead of the recommended eight to nine hours for this age group.* And almost a quarter (23%) admit they fall asleep watching TV/listening to music or with other machinery still running more than once a week.  

Not surprising given that nearly all (98.5%) have either a phone, music system or TV in their bedroom - and two thirds (65.3%) have all three! Among 12 to 14-year-old boys, nearly three in five (58%) have a phone, music player, TV and games console in their bedroom. And nearly one in five of all teenage lads (19%) admitted leaving on the TV/computer etc..affected the quality of their sleep.  

Even more worrying is how few placed much importance on the quality of sleep they get with just one in 10 (11%) giving it much thought. When asked how they thought sleep affected them they ranked energy levels as being the most affected followed by mood, schoolwork, hair and skin, and weight.        

 “I’m staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and how they feel during the day. Teenagers need to wake up to the fact that to feel well, perform well and look well, they need to do something about their sleep,” says top UK sleep expert Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.   “This is an incredibly worrying trend. What we are seeing is the emergence of Junk Sleep – that is sleep that is of neither the length nor quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school.”  

His theory is borne out by how teenagers say they generally feel each day. Four out of 10 (40%) admit they generally feel tired, with girls – especially 15 and 16-year-olds – faring even worse. Half (50%) said they generally feel tired.  

The trend for regular ‘sleepovers’ with friends does nothing to improve matters. “For ‘sleepover’ I think it would be more accurate to say ‘wakeover’, says Dr Chris. “Parents these days aren’t necessarily as strict as they once were with the ‘lights out’ policy. And with so many bedroom distractions, the amount of sleep achieved when sleeping with friends has to be highly questionable.” More popular among lasses than lads, 23% of teenage girls sleepover with friends once a week or more, as opposed to 19% of boys.  

And while sleep levels are falling short of the recommended levels for teenagers on the nights before school, the picture is even bleaker on non-school nights. The number getting less than four hours’ sleep triples with nearly one in 10 (9%) of 15-16-year-old boys surviving on so little sleep.  

Worrying about what they have to do the next day affects more than half (57%) of all teenagers although 76% blamed feeling too hot or cold for affecting the quality of their sleep.  

Girls are also much bigger worriers than boys with 54% of 12 to 14-year-olds affected as opposed to 42% of boys. And this problem increases with age. 79% of 15 to 16-year-old girls said worry affected their quality of sleep as against 61% of boys the same age.  

More than a quarter (26%) of all respondents said an uncomfortable bed affected their quality of sleep. In fact, when asked with an open question what they thought could help them sleep better, the most common response was linked to having a better/more comfortable/new bed or mattress.  

Said Dr Chris: “A comfortable bed in a well ventilated room, free of distractions is a good starting point in encouraging a good, healthy night’s sleep.  

 “Unfortunately, sleep seems to be going the same way as junk food. It may even be the case that junk sleep leads to junk food? Youngsters need to be taught a healthy lifestyle includes healthy sleep as well as healthy food. The message is simple: switch off the gadgets and get more sleep.”  

 *The Sleep Council survey was conducted by Youth Research and Communications specialists Dubit through an online poll of 1,000 12 to 16-year-olds conducted between June 13 and 18 2007   *

Source: Dr Chris Idzikowski.based on current research indications.