Sleep patterns in children and adults
Saw it in the news today:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050610/...s_dc&printer=1
I enclose a few excerpts from
"Lack of sleep can affect teen athletic performance ":
"These well-rested youngsters are generally known to function at their best early in the day, rather than in the late afternoon or evening. However, as children grow older and begin to get involved in clubs, community service and other extracurricular activities, or part-time employment, they may experience disruptions in their normal sleeping patterns.
"The system that's regulating and controlling sleep changes during an adolescent's development," Carskadon said. "As kids go through adolescence, the timing of sleep and all biological processes seem to push later," she explained.
Adolescents may go to sleep later than they did in previous years, while still waking early in the morning, thus getting less sleep, despite their need for the same number of hours of sleep. Thus, "young people live in a nearly constant state of chronic insufficient sleep," Carskadon writes.
Adolescents, therefore, generally perform their worst in the morning, when their brain is still craving sleep, and perk up later in the day, according to the researcher.
As sports teams travel across time zones, sleep issues "become exaggerated," she said."
Swarup