{"id":572745,"date":"2021-06-08T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=572745"},"modified":"2021-07-19T16:24:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T20:24:53","slug":"amid-surge-in-stress-during-pandemic-sleep-the-magic-pill-to-restoring-teens-mental-health-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/amid-surge-in-stress-during-pandemic-sleep-the-magic-pill-to-restoring-teens-mental-health-experts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Surge in Stress During Pandemic, Sleep the \u2018Magic Pill\u2019 to Restoring Teens\u2019 Mental Health, Experts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is published in partnership with<\/i> <\/i>The Guardian<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

W<\/span>hen parents tell Denise Pope, an adolescent well-being expert, they\u2019re worried for their children\u2019s mental health, she responds with a question.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many hours are they sleeping?\u201d<\/p>\n

That catches many parents off guard, says Pope, co-founder of the Stanford University-affiliated nonprofit Challenge Success. Few see their teenage children\u2019s mental health as linked to their sleep schedules. And besides, most parents go to bed before their high school-aged kids anyway, right? When Pope points out that teenagers need about nine hours of sleep each night, many parents scoff.<\/p>\n

They shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

As concerns for youth depression, anxiety and suicide have skyrocketed amid a deadly pandemic that disrupted schools across the country and isolated teens from their friends, researchers agree that consistent, sweet slumber can go a long way toward making students feel better.<\/p>\n

In recent years, school leaders have highlighted that quality sleep is an important precondition for academic success<\/a>, helping young people pay attention and retain material. In a 2019 effort to safeguard rest for teens, California pushed back school start times<\/a> for middle and high school students statewide. But the mental benefits extend far beyond learning, experts say, emphasizing sleep as a key to healthy emotional regulation for young people.<\/p>\n

By way of explanation, Pope offers a metaphor, which she credits to psychologist Lisa Demour.<\/p>\n

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Denise Pope, senior lecturer at Stanford University (Stanford University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf you had sort of a magic pill that you could take that would help increase your mental health, increase your physical health, lower your stress, make you more efficient,\u201d she says, most people would be itching for a dose.<\/p>\n

Well, we do have that magic pill. \u201cIt\u2019s called sleep,\u201d says Pope.<\/p>\n

But according to her research, teens are skimping on this vital resource, and the problem has only worsened with COVID-19.<\/p>\n

In fall 2020, Pope\u2019s Challenge Success team joined with NBC to survey 10,000 high school students<\/a> on their well-being and academic engagement through the pandemic. They found that high schoolers were getting an average of 6.7 hours of sleep per night \u2014 well below the recommended nine-hour benchmark, which only 7 percent of students were hitting. Five percent of students regularly slept under four hours per night, the research team found.<\/p>\n

Even though remote school eliminated commutes for many students, 43 percent of high schoolers reported that they were sleeping less since the pandemic struck, compared to only 23 who reported sleeping more. Anecdotal accounts indicate that quarantine spurred many teens to stay up all hours of the night<\/a>, sleeping sporadically throughout the day while their Zoom cameras were off<\/a> and using naps as a coping mechanism when they started to spiral.<\/p>\n

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According to Pope\u2019s research, 43 percent of high schoolers reported that they were sleeping less since the pandemic struck, compared to only 23 who reported sleeping more. (Challenge Success)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy sleep schedule really went off the rails when the pandemic started,\u201d Bridgette Adu-Wadier, now a senior at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, told The 74. During the day, on top of attending classes, she had to keep an eye on her two younger brothers, first- and second-graders who would constantly interrupt her with quarrels over toys, requests for help with schoolwork and messes to clean up in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Distracted days meant she frequently had to log late nights working to complete a never-ending stream of assignments. Sometimes, she would find herself nodding off while working. \u201cIt was just really hard managing my time with all the things that I had to juggle,\u201d said Adu-Wadier.<\/p>\n

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Virginia high school senior Bridgette Adu-Wadier logged late nights working on assignments while school was remote, thanks to frequent sibling squabbles throughout the day that distracted her from class and homework. \u201cMy sleep schedule really went off the rails when the pandemic started,\u201d said Adu-Wadier. (Bridgette Adu-Wadier)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Virginia high schooler has not been alone. Students in a tricky AP course she\u2019s enrolled in share a group chat, and on nights before assignments are due, messages buzz into the wee hours of the morning as peers scramble to finish. In the mornings, some of her friends can\u2019t drag themselves out of bed for online class. Throughout this year, peers \u201cdefinitely were in a similar boat,\u201d says Adu-Wadier.<\/p>\n

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Students are reporting higher levels of stress and anxiety since the pandemic struck. (Challenge Success)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the same time, isolation and worries for COVID-19 have exacerbated levels of teen stress and anxiety nationwide. Between April and October 2020, the share of mental health-related emergency department visits increased by 24 percent for children, and 31 percent for teens<\/a>. Over 1 in 5 teenagers surveyed by EdWeek Research Center in April said their need for mental health counseling increased during the pandemic<\/a>, compared to less than 1 in 10 who said it went down.<\/p>\n

Based on increased demand for behavioral health services over the past four months, Colorado Children\u2019s Hospital on May 25 declared a pediatric mental health state of emergency<\/a>. The hospital\u2019s chief medical officer said the situation is more severe than anything he has seen in his 20 years of practice.<\/p>\n

Though experts say it\u2019s too soon to tell whether the pandemic has spurred an increase in youth suicide attempts<\/a>, parents of teens who took their own lives say that the circumstances of quarantine contributed to their children\u2019s desperate condition<\/a>.<\/p>\n