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June 14, 2009
Researchers associate depression in adolescents with bedtimes
USA Today (6/9, Toppo) reports that, according to research presented at a sleep conference, adolescents "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."
For the study, researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center "examined surveys from 15,659 teens and their parents who took part in a National Institutes of Health...study of adolescent health," and found that middle- and high-school youngsters "whose parents don't require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42 percent more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime."
Notably, "teens who are allowed to stay up late are 30 percent more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the past year." The authors said that "the lesson for parents is simple....Try as much as possible to sell teenagers on the importance of getting enough sleep."
Posted by admin at June 14, 2009 12:39 PM