One of the main arguments for doing daylight savings is to be able to maximize daylight and increase productivity but a new study has offered a new effect daylight savings may have on high school students.
In a new report, researchers suggest that the adjustment that comes with daylight saving time could have adverse effects on students due to loss of sleep. Fox News reports that sleep loss could result in a a decrease in a student's alertness. To make matters worse, the consequences could also span outside of the classroom to their daily activities that include their ability to drive and other functional activities.
"For many years now, sleep researchers have been concerned about sleep deprivation in adolescents," quoted the publication of the study's principal investigator Dr. Ana Krieger, medical director of the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and an associate professor of clinical medicine, of medicine in clinical neurology, and of clinical genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, said in a news release. "This study unveils a potential additional factor that may further restrict their sleep in the early spring."
The observational study was small in nature with only 35 participants with a mean age of 16.5. They were from the high school level and Weill Cornell Medical College made use of a sleep diary. Experts measured daytime sleepiness using two standard measurement tests .
Following mean loss of 32 minutes per night and an accumulative 2 hours and 42 minutes a week after daylight savings time, it was observed that students were less attentive, delayed in their reaction and experienced more sleepiness. Study authors are recommending a critical look into the sleep patterns of high school students as well as careful assessment and vigilance when it comes to daylight savings time changes.
This supports a published article by The Washington Post titled, "Sleep Deprivation and Teens: 'Walking Zombies' that reported sleep deprivation in teens resulted in lower levels of Human Growth Hormone, which is necessary to physical growth, brain development and maturation of the immune system.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that American teenagers get about nine hours of sleep daily. However, it is estimated that only a low 8 percent of teens are getting the recommended hours of sleep. Further, a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health reports two-thirds of students in high school are getting less than seven hours of sleep each night.
The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicines August 2015 edition.
