Adaptations Needed to Address Adolescents’ Circadian Rhythms

Adaptations Needed to Address Adolescents’ Circadian Rhythms Sleep is the fuel that humans need to properly function. The amount of sleep people need is determined by their circadian rhythm, or biological clock. A teenager’s circadian rhythm differs from that found in an adult or younger child. While going through puberty, teenagers need more sleep than when they become adults. Researchers from the National Sleep Foundation have identified several changes in sleep patterns, sleep/wake systems, and circadian timing associated with puberty. In the last decade, a few high schools from around the world have changed to a later start time that would better suit the sleep cycles of their students. Studies by the National Sleep Foundation in the last five years have shown that schools with later start times better suit their student’s sleep cycles, decreased the dropout rate, and that the students are more alert and have better grades. All schools should change their start times to a later time period to better accommodate their students’ sleeping patterns, resulting in better performance in school. Circadian rhythms are the body’s way of telling time, with the word circadian being derived from the Latin phrase “circa diem”, meaning “about a day”(Vitaterna 4). These cycles run on twenty-four hour clocks that do not necessarily correspond with any external influences. The importance of having a person’s circadian rhythms line up with the outside world relies on the fact that all physiological and behavioral functions occur on a rhythmic basis, and disruptions in rhythms lead to a variety of mental and physical disorders (Vitaterna 21). Many effects can be directly linked with disturbances in the sleep-wake pattern, which is put in disarray by the abnormal sleeping patterns of teens is high school (Science News 1).
Teens need as much sleep as when they were preteens. Teens need between eight and a half hours and nine hours and fifteen minutes. Their

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