Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Teen Bedtimes Associated with Suicide, Depression & Grades

Two studies being presented as posters later this morning examine the negative impact of late bedtimes on teens.

One study (#1064) suggests that parental-mandated bedtimes could help protect teens from depression and suicidal thoughts by lengthening sleep duration. Results show that adolescents with parental-mandated bedtimes at midnight or later were 25 percent more likely (adjusted odds ratio 1.25) to suffer from depression and 20 percent more likely (adjusted odds ratio 1.20) to have suicidal ideation compared with adolescents who had parental-mandated bedtimes of 10 p.m. or earlier. Multivariate models show that sleep duration may have acted as a mediator of these associations; thus short sleep may be a risk factor for depression and suicidal ideation.

Another study (#0161) shows that being a “night owl” or “evening type” – preferring to go to bed late at night and wake up later in the day – is associated with lower academic performance in college and a decline in academic performance from college to high school. Results indicate that evening types had significantly lower first year college GPA (2.84) than “morning types” and “intermediate types” (3.18). They also slept on average 41 minutes less on school nights. For all students, “sleep hygiene” was related to academic performance.

You can download the SLEEP 2009 abstract supplement as an 11 MB file in PDF format.

6 comments:

  1. That's true. Not getting enough sleep will make us not concentrate and focus more.

    My bestfriend was diagnosed with depression last year. She had trouble sleeping, her grades went down, she wouldn't participate in any school activities unlike before.

    A wilderness program helped her overcome that stage.

    When she overcame her depression, she sleeps a lot better, her grades went high, and she's so full of life.

    All in all, sleep (even for adults) is an important stage in our daily life.

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  2. Awesome blog post, particularly the part about the new socio-musical phenomena going on in the northwest. I’m always interested in cultures and subcultures specially when music is part of the equation and this neohippie phenomena sounds quite unusual

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  3. The lack of sleep is naturally unhealthy for anyone. So it is possible to experience depression when you're deprived of one. I agree that parents should set a sleeping time for their teens or they'll likely end up depressed and troubled.

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  4. I think that this is so terrible, I would like to say something views on suicide have been influenced by broader cultural views on existential themes such as religion, honor, and the meaning of life. The Abrahamic religions consider suicide an offense towards God due to religious belief in the sanctity of life.!

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  5. hmm good to see the post... terrific info, keep it up and thanks for share... :)

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