While changing the clocks back on Saturday gave Americans an extra hour of sleep, data released Monday shows that nearly half of parents report their children don’t get the recommended eight to 10 hours of shut-eye.
About 46 percent of parents say their children get seven hours or less of sleep a night, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults and teens by Propeller Research.
In the survey, which was commissioned on behalf of Sleep Cycle, a sleep-tracking and alarm clock app for smartphones, both parents and teens indicated long school days and increased homework as prime reasons for their children missing out on needed hours of rest.
More than half of parents (52 percent) and a majority of teens (61 percent) said school starts too early.
About 88 percent of teens said they then stay up too late finishing school projects, with 59 percent saying delayed sleep occurs on a weekly or daily basis.
The vast majority of teens also responded to being tired during school and having trouble staying awake. Almost half of parents said the school day is too long and both groups said students would benefit from a nap or rest during the school day.
The full report will be released on Nov. 8, but early data released by the organization found that a lack of sleep is having a number of negative health effects on teens, including poor productivity and mood swings.
About 64 percent of parents reported that their children are moody; 61 percent said their teens are grumpy and disagreeable; and 28 percent of parents said their children get into more trouble at school. About 20 percent of parents said their children make worse life choices when not getting enough sleep, according to the survey.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies sleep as essential to good health — with many chronic disease such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease obesity and depression linked to not getting enough sleep.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.