Tuesday 15 March 2011

Sleepy Teenagers

I have just read this about training teenagers to sleep, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12744698?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Again, we have wheel reinvention. There is something called the flicker response that fires up the reptillian brain for food or danger. Either way, it is stressful. What TV and computers do is also fire up this flicker response. Many teachers know this.

What the article does not address is that teenagers have a different diurnal rhythm than children and adults. Generally, they tire later and cannot get to sleep at adult and children's bedtimes as well. They also do not have the same natural getting up times, again being later. In many school districts in California, senior high schools start later and the school day is longer. Want seems to result from this is lower crime and better grades.

How about we learn from others instead of always finding out the same things in isolation.

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