It’s not often I see a study that focuses on variability but that is what drives this recent New York Times story detailing how “Poor Sleep May Spur College Weight Gain.” Sleep for Science Lab researchers kept track of how 132 first-year students at Brown University slept over a nine week period, during which more than half of them gained nearly six pounds. The increase in weight comes as no surprise (one subject gained 18 pounds!) but this correlating to deviations in sleeping times is provocative. Whether this is causal, or just an offshoot of other upsets in lifestyle that come when students break loose from their parents, remains to be seen in controlled experiment.
Meanwhile, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) widened ranges earlier this year (2/2/15) in these new recommendations in hours per day broken down by age:
- Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 (previously 12-18)
- Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours (14-15)
- Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours (12-14)
- Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours (11-13)
- School age children (6-13): 9-11 hours (10-11)
- Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours (8.5-9.5)
- Younger adults (18-25): 7-9 hours (new age category)
- Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours (no change)
- Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours (new age category)
My interpretation of all this is to get your teens to follow a fairly regular schedule for sleep (good for those of all ages, I feel sure), but don’t worry too much about the exact amount, provided it falls within the recommended guidelines of NSF.
P.S. In this report published November 4 in Sleep Review, Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford, recommends you brush your teeth in the dark to ensure a good sleep. That gives me a bright idea: glow in the dark toothpaste! 🙂