Teens losing sleep over technology

ORLANDO, Fla. — Some sleep researchers think today's teens are loading up on "junk sleep" — the sleep equivalent of junk food — because they sleep with so many distracting devices: cell phones tucked under their pillows, handheld computer games on the bedside table, TVs or music playing in the background.

"We have an epidemic of obesity and we have an epidemic of junk sleep," said Dr. Morris Bird, head of Florida Hospital's Center for Sleep Disorders. "With our 24-hour days, the availability of all these things — all of these things are like a big apple pie that is sitting in front of them — and they can't resist."

Natasha Parish, 17, loves to keep her cell phone on her bedside table, just in case a friend calls or text-messages her in the middle of the night. Sometimes, she receives calls or texts as late (or early) as 3 a.m. If she's awake, or if the call wakes her up, Natasha texts right back.

"I don't like not being able to respond right away," said Natasha, a senior at Winter Park (Fla.) High School. Likewise, she keeps her laptop computer powered up until bedtime, just to catch any e-mails that friends send her.

"It's probably one of my biggest distractions and one of the reasons I don't go to bed earlier," Natasha said.

In a 2006 poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 97 percent of teens said they have at least one electronic item, such as a television, computer, phone or music device in their bedroom. On average, sixth-graders reported having more than two electronic gadgets in their room, while high school seniors said they have four.

In the survey, teens with four or more electronic devices in their bedrooms were much more likely than their peers to get an insufficient amount of sleep.

"These devices keep you awake. They are in competition with sleep," said Dr. Mary Carskadon, a Brown University psychiatry professor who specializes in the sleep-wake pattern of children and adolescents. "The message we're trying to send is: Sure, you can have these gadgets, but do you have to have them in the bedroom?"

The problem, said Carskadon, is two-fold. Not only do teens tend to stay up later, playing video games or surfing the Internet in their bedrooms while their parents have already gone to sleep, but many kids leave the TV or iPod or telephone on all night. And the noise from those gadgets can wake them up repeatedly during the night.

Making matters worse, any gadget with lights — such as a computer monitor left on all night — can trick the brain into thinking it's daytime.

Researchers haven't yet studied the effect of sleeping with a cell phone tucked under your pillow, but studies suggest that televisions disrupt sleep.

"After two hours of sleep, the child wakes up, the TV's on and there's something on that they want to watch. So they wake up and watch," said Carskadon. "Two things have happened: First, their sleep is disrupted. And second, now they're getting light, which can impact their sleep rhythm."

So what's happening to a generation growing up on junk sleep? They're becoming a generation of sleepy, sometimes moody and irritable teens who doze off in school.

"What parents probably experience most is the difficulty waking the teen up in the morning," said Carskadon. "The teachers will see it more. They'll see what I call the 'slack-jawed droolers,' the kids who are not with it in the morning."

The National Sleep Foundation says school-age children and adolescents need at least nine hours of sleep a night, but in a national survey conducted in 2006, only 20 percent of American teens said they get nine hours a night. Nearly half sleep less than eight hours on school nights and 28 percent of high school students reported falling asleep in school at least once a week.

But teens have become accustomed to gadgets — and to cutting corners on sleep.

Monica Risley, a senior at Winter Park High School, sleeps between five and six hours a night. Like many of her friends, she falls asleep each night with her cell phone next to her pillow. To drift off to sleep, she watches TV, but sets a sleep timer to turn off the TV after 30 minutes.

Yet Monica, a student in the school's International Baccalaureate program, blames homework, not her cell phone and TV, for her sleep deficit.

"Depending on my homework, I go to bed at 11 on a good night, but many times 12 or 1 o'clock," she said. She then gets up each morning at 5:30 a.m. to go to the gym before school.

"Very rarely do I get enough sleep."