The Secret to Well-Behaved Teens: More Sleep Later in the Morning

Want well-behaved teens? Then you'd better be make sure they get their sleep. Scientists have found that teens that don't get enough sleep may be more irritable, lazy and may seem to have behavioral problems.

During adolescence, the conflict between social and biological time is greater than at any other point in our lives. Biological time is our ability to functional optimally and learn while conventional social time depends on our environment.

Our sleep-wake cycle, known as circadian rhythm, is the result of a balance between states of alertness and sleepiness regulated by a part of the brain called Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SNC). During puberty, though, shifts in our body clock push optimal sleep later into the evening. This makes it difficult for many teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m. Coupled with early school stars, sleep-deprived teens may find it difficult to cope.

"Good policies should be based on good evidence and the data shows that children are currently placed at an enormous disadvantage by being forced to keep inappropriate education times," write the researchers in a news release.

In fact, there's a growing body of evidence that show the benefits of synchronizing education times with teens' body clocks. While research has shown that later school start times improve learning, there's been no evidence that early starts have a positive influence.

The findings reveal that policy makers may wish to consider instituting later school start times in order to improve learning and give teens a better chance at academic success. The new research reveals that when it comes to teens, better learning and behavior starts with a better night's sleep.

The findings are published in the journal Learning, Media and Technology.