Technology and Teen Sleeping Patterns

All too often, helping children wake up and get ready for school can be one of the less enjoyable times of a parent’s day.  This can be made even more difficult if our teens have been up late the night before looking at screens, whether on their laptops, phones, or tablets.  A recent article in The Washington Post, “Blue Light from Electronics Disturbs Sleep, Especially for Teenagers,” discusses the deleterious impact of the blue light from electronic devices on adolescent sleep patterns.  As the author Meeri Kim says, “However, light — particularly of the blue variety — can keep the pineal gland from releasing melatonin, thus warding off sleepiness. You don’t have to be staring directly at a television or computer screen: If enough blue light hits the eye, the gland can stop releasing melatonin. So easing into bed with a tablet or a laptop makes it harder to take a long snooze, especially for sleep-deprived teenagers who are more vulnerable to the effects of light than adults.”

Obviously, the best remedy for this problem is for our children to shut down their screens earlier and perhaps do something else before going to bed.  (Although I may sound like a Luddite when I say this, there may still be a place in the world for reading a book or a magazine when one climbs into bed as a way for one’s brain to prepare for sleep.)  However, I am also aware that Bosque students lead busy lives that include school, extracurricular activities, and homework; as a result, they may end up spending more time in front of screens later at night than we would wish.  To that end, there is an app that reduces the amount of blue light emanating from the screen. To quote Kim, “To counteract the effects of tablets’ blue light, Figueiro and Lockley recommend a free app, F.lux, that automatically warms up the colors on your various screens — more reds and yellows — at sunset and returns them to normal at sunrise.”

At Bosque, we want our students to be both challenged and supported; in addition, we want them to have healthy lives.  Perhaps helping them figure out how to balance the amount of time they are in front of their devices will enable them to take pride in the many great things they accomplish, but still get the amount of sleep they need.