Texas Children's Hospital - Too grown up for good hygiene? Never!

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Shine Magazine

Too grown up for good hygiene? Never!

Hygiene comes in many forms. Whether practicing good grooming, careful hand washing or smart sleep habits, healthy hygiene will always be in style.

Teenagers need nine to 10 hours of sleep each night. Yet studies show that most teens get only six or seven — a dangerous habit, according to Dr. Merrill Wise, pediatric neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital and associate professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine. “Teens try to catch up on weekends, but there’s no way to replenish the sleep they’ve missed,” he explains.

Not only can daytime sleepiness affect an adolescent’s academic, social and medical health, but it also can become a safety issue. “Teenagers are at significant risk for automobile accidents due to sleepiness,” says Dr. Wise.

When lack of sleep occurs, a teen may face attention lapses, fall asleep or experience a dangerous phenomenon called “micro-sleep.” During micro-sleep, the brain shuts down for a few seconds at a time.

“If your teen is driving 60 miles an hour and experiences three seconds of micro-sleep, he or she would have traveled the length of a football field and would not even know it,” Dr. Wise adds.
One of the main contributors to sleep deprivation in adolescence appears around puberty. Changes in the body’s circadian rhythm — or “biological clock” — cause teens to become tired later in the evening than younger children or adults.

“Parents who think their teen has suddenly become a ‘night owl’ aren’t imagining it,” Dr. Wise
confirms. “Most teens prefer to stay up late and sleep in even later.”

Factor into the mix technology, such as cell phones, computers, video games and the many
commitments of today’s teenagers, and it’s easy to see why adolescents aren’t getting the sleep
they need.

So how should parents approach this issue with their teens?

“Parents should communicate the importance of sleep and set limits around extracurricular activities and technology,” says Dr. Wise. He also recommends that teens establish good sleep hygiene.

If a teen continues to feel sleepy, parents should speak with the child’s physician. “In some situations, an evaluation by a sleep medicine specialist may be needed,” explains Dr. Wise.