Are you sleepy? Get more sunlight!
Are you sleepy? Get more sunlight!
Lack of the sunlight each morning to reset the body's natural sleep clock might play a role in tweens and teens out-of-whack sleep, according to a new study.
Specialists say too few teens get the recommended nine hours of shut-eye a night. They're often unable to fall asleep until late and struggle to awaken for early classes. Sleep patterns start changing in adolescence for numerous reasons, including hormonal changes and more school, work and social demands.
Researchers turned to a North Carolina school built for energy efficiency, with lots of skylights so classrooms could reduce use of electric lights yet still be brighter than usual indoors. That allowed testing of the effects when some eighth-graders at Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill suddenly lost exposure to a specific wavelength of light.
From waking until school ended, 11 students donned special orange goggles that block short-wavelength "blue light," but not other wavelengths necessary for proper vision. Blocking that light for five days upset the students' internal body clocks — delaying by half an hour their evening surge of a hormone called melatonin that helps induce sleep, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers reported Tuesday.
Teens who trudge to the bus stop before dawn or spend their days in mostly windowless schools probably suffer the same effect, as daylight is the best source of those short-wavelength rays, said lead researcher Mariana Figueiro of Rensselaer's Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y.
"If you have this morning light, that is a benefit to the teenagers," Figueiro said.
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- Posted on February 17, 2010
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That is so true because i get a lot of sleep but when i go to i just wan to fall a sleep but when i see the sun light i can just stay up all night.But the wired part is that i don't fell like i should fall a sleep when I'm at home!!!!!
no no this is not true i get sunlight but not that much in week or in a day but i have light from games
I don't understand how sunlight can reduce tiredness if sunlight is like regular lights in a house. Even when it's sunny it doesn't do anything to help me wake up. No matter how tired i am even if it's just a little the sun doesn't do anything.
I don't know if I believe that sunlight makes you more tired. I just think it's important to get the sleep you need. I think you need to be responsible for your sleep time. If you know you're not going to want to wake up in the morning, then go to bed earlier.
I don't believe sunlight can make you less tired. I think you should just get more sleep. I try to sleep 8 hours a night. It is so crazy, so of the stuff people come up. How are you gonna get sunlight, if it is dark in the morning? No matter how much sunlight I have, I am still so tired.
I agree that it depends on the person, but not everyone can be like you. Some of us, including me, have trouble going to sleep at a time we actually want. We may try to get 8 or 9 hours of sleep, but in reality, we get 5 or six hours. So, we need all the help that we can get. If it's as easy as getting a bit more light in the morning, I'm going to try it at least once. Although, I am sorry for those who are like me, but can't get sunlight in the morning. Good luck, to those of you who this applies to.
- I can relate to this because at the beginning of the day i be can be excited and happy and then 45minutes into the day and i get sleepy and exhausted and don't want to move. I hate that feeling inside when i feel like i have no energy. My school is like a prison to me there is no sunlight except in two of my classes with small windows. I wish we had more windows in our school to bring the happiness and fun and i think there wouldn't be as much bad kids and sad and gloomy kids at my school at least 92.5% would be happy most of the time.
So, it is a good thing to have sunlight. I know when my Gramma doesn't get outside because it is too hot or too cold she gets cranky. But if I go for a walk with her, she feels better and is smiling. The sun is a good source of Vit D which is something your body really needs to stay healthy, stronger and you can be smarter and hold more things in your memory. My mom makes me take Vit D capsules in the morning in the winter because I can't get outside in the sunshine in the winter like I do in the summer.
It is 100% true that kids do not get enough sleep. I myself know that I don't get enough sleep. Its not on purpose that I don't sleep, when I get all done with my homework around 8 pm, I then eat dinner and watch a little TV to get sleepy then go to bed. But when I am laying there trying to sleep, I have so many things running through my mind. I am thinking about my homework, hoping I got it all right, thinking about the test I have to study for, thinking about my day tomorrow, thinking about just about everything. It is very hard with all the stress kids have on their minds for them to sleep. Something needs to be done, because when the students go to school the next day, they are tired and aren't paying attention and they just want to sleep.
I love sleeping but I don't like getting near the sun. I know its good for you but its really hot! My baby sister has to be in the sun and I feel sad for her.