Teens whose parents let them stay up after midnight on weeknights have a much higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime, says research being presented today at a national sleep conference.
The findings are the first to examine bedtimes’ effects on kids’ mental health ”” and the results are noteworthy. Middle- and high-schoolers whose parents don’t require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42% more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime. And teens who are allowed to stay up late are 30% more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the past year.
It seems to me that, until the last generation or so, this understanding used to be something like conventional wisdom. Teens aren’t the only ones adversely affected by inadequate sleep though. I don’t know any adults who can sustain a good attitude without enough sleep over time, and younger children especially tend to have a difficult time with attitudes and self-control. I wonder how much trouble that causes for teachers.
This ran as a story on last nights NBC evening news.