Kids Need Sleep!…and so do you…

A recent study by researchers at the university of Kentucky found that  changing the school start time for high school students from 7:30am to 8:30am led to 13.7 percent more kids getting 8 hours of sleep.

Kids in general need plenty of sleep.  They’re growing in both mind and body at a rate that will not be equaled for the rest of their lives.  I’ve seen recommendations as high as 12 hours/night for young kids.

What happens when you get plenty of sleep?  Well, your attention span goes up, your resilience goes up (fewer colds, injuries, etc.), you’re less accident prone (attention span again), you have more energy physically (you can be more physically fit), your levels of stress hormones decreases leading to generally better moods, etc.

However, teeangers’ circadian rhythms are a little whacky because of the raging hormones in their bodies.  Combine that with a diet high in sugar, and plenty of Xbox, and you get a recipe for 12am bedtimes, bad attitudes, inability to focus, and poor grades.

Continue brewing this dangerous concoction for four or ten years, and you get the bad living habits that lead to “adult-onset ADD,” hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease.

None of this stuff is a mystery, friends.  Get more high-quality (that is, undisturbed, non-drug-induced) sleep, and your life will improve.  I don’t care how old you are.