Lack of sleep could be trouble for CTE students.

Lack of sleep could be trouble for CTE students. CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION (CTE) STUDENTS MORE SO THAN NON-CTESTUDENTS find themselves in school environments using equipment andtools that could cause injury if mishandled. It is imperative that thesestudents be wide awake and alert when operating these tools. But manyadolescents are not getting the sleep they need to be refreshed andalert. Researchers have found that adolescents and even those in theirearly 20s need nine to 10 hours of sleep a night to feel refreshed. TheNational Sleep Foundation (NSF) found that 75 percent of teenagers werenot getting the recommended 9 to 10 hours of sleep on school nights andhigh school seniors averaged only 6.9 hours of sleep. In the LibertyMutual/SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) study, teens had anaverage of 7.2 hours of sleep on school nights; between 15 percent and30 percent of all children may have a sleep disturbance duringchildhood; and as much as 33 to 75 percent of all adolescents have sleepproblems. Sleep restores brain functions that affect metabolism, alertness,memory and regulates hormones. Not getting enough sleep can lead toimpaired hand-eye coordination, reaction time, vision, awareness ofsurroundings, judgment, impulse control, and can cause brief mentallapses called micro-sleeps, which impede concentration and retention.This condition is particularly dangerous for CTE students who use toolsand equipment. Other effects of sleep deprivation include tardiness, fallingasleep in class, lethargy, moodiness, irritability, anxiety, aches,depression, anger, hyperactivity, behavioral problems, increasedsuicidal ideation and attempts, and drug and alcohol abuse. HarvardUniversity found that sleep deprivation has been linked to decreasedimmunity functions, which may increase susceptibility to illness. Areport from the Archives of Disease in Childhood from the UnitedKingdom, found that lack of sleep could affect a person's metabolicbalance, which may increase the chances of obesity, diabetes andcardiovascular disease. Academic problems are also associated with sleep deprivation. Tiredstudents have a hard time paying attention. If they do manage to payattention in class, they may forget what they learned because memory ispartially formed during sleep. Researchers Mary A. Carskadon and A.R.Wolfson studied 3,120 Rhode Island children. They found that studentswho were struggling or failing in school got less sleep than those whowere earning As and Bs. Carskadon also found that the more irregular thebedtime hour, the lower the student's grades. A 2001 study foundthat college students who slept more than nine hours a night had highergrade-point averages than those sleeping less than six hours (3.2 GPAvs. 2.7). Sleep deprivation also makes it difficult for students tostart and stick with tasks that involve long-term or abstract goals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Why the Sleep Deprivation? One reason is biological. When a child enters puberty, the bodygoes through changes that make it harder to go to sleep early and wakeup early. When growth hormones kick in during adolescence, a youngperson's circadian rhythm changes. According to Kyla Wahlstrom,associate director at the University of Minnesota's Center forApplied Research and Educational Improvement, children between the agesof 13 and 19 secrete the sleep hormone melatonin between the hours of11:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. As the child ages, melatonin is secreted laterand later in the evening. The center notes that it is unnatural toexpect teenagers to be alert at 7:30 a.m. Another factor in teenagersstaying up late is that the rate at which sleepiness builds up duringthe day decreases during adolescence. The other major reason teenagers are sleep deprived is lifestyle.Teenagers today arc overextended. They are involved in too manyactivities that extend late into the evening and then they are requiredby schools to be up early in the morning to be in class as early as 7:00a.m. For example, teenagers who work more than 20 hours a week afterschool have more symptoms of daytime sleepiness than those whodon't work. Another contributing factor in teens not getting enoughsleep involves parents. Only one in 20 high school students have parentswho set a bedtime for their children, according to a 2005 study. (1)Most teenagers watch TV, use their cell phone, text message, use theircomputer, or do homework in their bedroom right up to the time theycrash. This is not the ideal way to have a restful sleep. Those studentswith a set time to go to sleep tend to be better rested and do better inschool. Action Plans: What Students Can Do Sleep experts note that bedtime etiquette is important to ensurequality sleep. Among the recommendations: 1. Don't consume caffeine hours before bedtime. 2. Have quiet time before bedtime. Read a book, listen to quietsoothing music, or meditate. 3. Remove the TV, cell phone, computer and video games from thebedroom. 4. Improve time management skills so student is not doing lastminute school-work late at night. 5. Don't stay up later on weekends and try to use bingesleeping to catch up. What Parents can do 1. Set the child's bedtime so that he or she gets at least 8.5hours of sleep. 2. Try to limit late night hours. What Some Schools are Doing Some schools have started later to allow teens to get more sleep.These schools are starting after 8:00 a.m., although the NSF recommends9:00 a.m. as the ideal start time. In 1996, the school district inEdina, Minnesota, changed its high school start time to 8:30 a.m. Thedistrict noticed that students are more engaged and alert in theirfirst-period classes as a result of the change. The district saw gradesgo up as a result of a later start time. The Minneapolis school districtfollowed suit in 1997. Teachers report students are less likely to fallasleep in morning classes, with some students reporting they get moresleep and are more likely to eat breakfast. Attendance and graduationrates in schools have gone up while tardiness has gone down. CTE students who work with dangerous equipment should be wellrested. They should also be made aware of the effects of sleepdeprivation and how it can impact their class/lab activities. Schools,parents and students will need to work together to ensure students arewell rested and alert. Endnotes (1) Sanghavi, D. (2005). Teens Need Help to Form Better SleepHabits., Boston Globe, Boston MA.: Jun 21, 2005. C 1. Gary Scarpello, Ph.D., is a math and social studies instructor atNorth Montco Technical Career Center in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. He canbe contacted at gscarp@comcast.net. ACTE Interested in exploring this topic further? Discuss it with yourcolleagues on the ACTE forums at www.acteonline.org/forum.aspx.