Study Sheds Light on Students’ Sleep Patterns

In a study of Australian teens, researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia discovered that 95 percent of participants had at least one type of sleep disorder.

In a study published in the journal Sleep, Dr. Michael Gradisar, Director of the Child and Adolescent Sleep Clinic at Flinders University, analyzed the sleep patterns of 81 students over a period of 4 weeks.

The average age of participants was 16 years old. Thirty-three percent of participants were male, researchers said.

Forty-one students in the intervention group took part in four educational clinics that sought to teach them about the benefits of healthy sleep patterns.

An additional 40 students were given standard health education, researchers told Reuters Health.

Students from both groups were given the same questionnaires.

“It seems the Sunday morning sleep-in is something they don’t want to give up," Gradisar told Reuters.

Of students involved in the intervention group, 42 percent said they were more aware of the benefits of quality sleep.

“We were pleased to hear the teenagers honestly report they wanted to get more sleep on school nights,” Gradisar said.

When the study began, 53 percent of students admitted to not being able to get 8 hours of sleep on school nights.

“Nearly 78 percent reported more than a 2-hour discrepancy between their school-day and weekend rise times,” Reuters reported.

Additionally, 60 percent said it took more than 30 minutes to get to sleep; 35 percent said they experienced excessive sleepiness during the daytime.

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