Pretty soon, the clocks go forward as we “spring ahead” on Sunday, March 95h th at 2 AM. We set our clocks ahead an hour as we re-enter Daylight Saving Time. If you do not have children (and are not working overnight), this is a bit of a bummer and you lose an hour of sleep. If…
On the surface of it, the timing of falling asleep seems fairly easy to understand. Once you have been awake for a certain period of time, you become tired and eventually go to sleep. The technical term for increasing sleepiness over time is the homeostatic sleep drive, as I explained in a previous post. However,…
Childhood obesity is common and has become even more of a problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. So has short sleep and sleep difficulties. Interestingly, lack of sleep is a cause of childhood obesity, from infancy through adolescence. So are problems with sleep timing and poor sleep quality. It’s pretty clear to any parent that getting…
Last week, I published a long post entitled, Should My Child Take Melatonin? A Guide for Parents. In that article, I really tried to focus on the medical side of the question. How safe is it? How should it be used? When should it be used? Obviously, the answer will vary for each child. My…
Terra Ziporyn Snider writes eloquently here on the importance of creating sleep friendly communities. This is one of my favorite things I’ve published.
This year, I’m making it a New Year’s Resolution to commit to getting 30 minutes more of sleep. Will you join me? Many people choose losing weight, exercising more, or improving relationships. Sleeping more will help with all of these goals.
Sleep deprivation in teens is at epidemic levels in this country. A recent study was published by the Centers for Disease Control on the amount of time that teenagers get on an average school night. Students were surveyed over school years from 2007–2013. The results of the survey were alarming, even to those of us…
Let’s perform a thought experiment for a moment: if you knew that in your child’s school there was a toxic substance that reduced the capacity to learn, increased chances of a car crash and made it likely that 20 years from now he would be obese and suffer from hypertension, you’d do everything possible to…
The American Sleep Medicine Foundation held a contest for teenagers to put together a short film about sleep. The winner was Jasper Lown, a senior in high school in Chicago. Sleep Story: ASMF High School Contest WinnerWatch this video on YouTubeThis video is hosted by YouTube. By clicking play, you consent to YouTube’s use of…
NOTE: The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended school start times no earlier than 8:30 for teens. Read more here. A few years ago, I had a sixteen year old come into sleep clinic for insomnia. He was a hard-working student in a good school district. I asked him to describe his sleep problems to me….
Maria Popova, whose invaluable site Brain Pickings compiles fascinating and diverse material on books, the arts, and sciences, has written and excellent review of a book entitled Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired by Till Roenneberg. The book explains the clash between circadian (body clock) biology and school/work schedules, resulting in a persistent…
Happy to send this your way.