Doc. Addresses Parents About Importance of Sleep in Kids and Teens

Are your kids putting their heads on the desks before the schoolday even ends? Is it hard to wake them in the morning?

Kids and teens need more sleep than many are aware.

Judith Owens, MD, addresses this in “The ABCs of ZZZs: What Every Parent Needs to Know About the Importance of Sleep in Kids and Teens” on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Wayland High School Auditorium.

“The issue of chronic sleep deprivation in teens is a serious health concern. We know the sleep loss is associated with depression, risk taking behaviors such as alcohol and substance use, drowsy driving crashes, obesity and increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as academic under-achievement and school absences,” Owens told Patch.

As part of this Walden Forum Series, Owens, who is director of Sleep Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an internationally-acclaimed researcher, author and educator, talks about how crucial sleep is for your kids.

Peter Lavenson starts the evening at 7 p.m. with a live guitar performance, followed by the discussion, and refreshments.

“If you knew that in your child’s school there was a toxic substance that reduced the capacity to learn, increased the chances of a car crash and made it likely that 20 years from now they would be obese and suffer from hypertension, you’d do everything possible to get rid of that substance and not worry about cost,” she said in a statement. “Early start times are toxic.”

The consequences of sleep deprivation include impairing their ability to stay alert, pay attention, cope with stress, retain information and solve problems.

Owens argues that even a 30-minute delay in start times would translate into more sleep and better outcomes, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a start time for middle and high schools of 8:30a or later.

“School districts have been successfully changing to healthy start times since the mid-1990s,” said Owens. “The evidence is very clear that later start times means more sleep, less sleepiness, better school performance, better mental and physical health and groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Center for Disease Control have all endorsed healthy start times as a public health issue.”

Owens said during her Wayland forum she will illustrate how important it is that parents (and students, teachers, etc) understand the science behind teen sleep and the consequences of insufficient sleep, as well as the potential benefits of healthy start times.

“There is a lot of misinformation circulating out there that is misleading, and parents need to be able to make informed decisions about their children’s health based on accurate facts,” she said.