13 minute read
Sleep Pattern of Adolescents
from You-wA-H
by schoolindia
Webinar 23
Sleep Pattern of Adolescents: Link to Health and Academic Performance
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Experts argue that 8-9 hours of sleep is essential for healthy living, however adolescents follow unruly sleep patterns that often cause sleep deprivation. Following a routine is also necessary for our physical and mental well-being, however the lock down has disrupted our routines. One such disruption has been caused in the sleep cycles of adolescents. This may also impact ones health, academic performance and nutrition.
This webinar focused on understanding:
1. Prevalence of Sleep disorders in adolescents 2. Unhealthy Sleep patterns, how to identify and change them 3. Impact on sleep pattern due to changes in the circadian rhythm and brain maturation during adolescence & Maintenance 4. Role of Nutrition in Sleeping Patterns 5. Practicing good sleep hygiene and benefits
Esteemed Panelists:
DR. RENUKA SHARMA Director- Professor Physiology, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital MS. RAMANJIT GHUMAN -
DR. PULKIT MATHUR Asst Professor, Dept. of Food & Nutrition, Lady Irwin College (University of Delhi) & Convenor, Nutrition Society of India Delhi Chapter
DR. APURVAKUMAR PANDYA PhD (HDFS), MA (Clin Psych) Economic Evaluation Specialist Regional Resource Centre for Health Technology Assessment Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar Principal at Oakridge International School, Mohali
KEY TAKEAWAYS
ATTITUDES TOWARDS SLEEP PATTERNS • Sleep is essential for life, people die due to lack of sleep but it is very low on our priority list. • We cut out on sleep when we have other things to do. • Adolescents have Sleep Debt because they don’t get enough sleep every day and they try to cover it during the weekend. Unfortunately this does not help in the long run. • They also witness Social Jet Lag, children deliberately delay their sleep while trying to match their peers. This results in Microsleep which is a condition in which we are awake but our mind is asleep. • People nap during the day to deal with sleepiness; this is only a short term solution to boost alertness and does not provide all other benefits.
IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING A SLEEP HYGIENE • Sleep is the golden chain that binds our body and brain together. • A lot of psychological disorders and sleep disorders arise due to inadequate sleep. • Indians have a genetic tendency to develop cardiovascular disorders and diabetes; these two conditions are greatly impacted by our sleep cycle. • When we are sleeping our body is on a repair mode, the body functions to restore the tissues, muscles and heart. • Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of hormones. • Sleep enables growth and learning in adolescents. • Studies have found that late sleep hours affect the gray matter volume that has a major to play in our cognitive and emotional behaviour. SLEEP DISORDERS IN ADOLESCENTS • For adolescents it is recommended that they must sleep for 7-8 hours, most of them follow this cycle however they do not sleep at the right time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Substance use and abuse also affects our sleep cycle. The increased screen time has negative effects on the sleep cycle. During adolescence the biological clock is reset, this disrupts the Circadian Rhythm Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is a very normal condition among growing individuals where children feel sleepy at hours later than normal. Adolescents go through this syndrome because of their excess use of technology, the also consume caffeine, when they return from school/college they go for naps which in actuality continues for hours and this does not let them sleep early at night. Melatonin, a sleep stimulus, is inadequate in adolescents.
IDENTIFYING AND CHANGING SLEEP PATTERNS • Some of the symptoms that can be identified are; difficulty in falling sleep and difficulty in maintaining sleep, fatigue during daytime, lack of or difficulty in concentrating, repeated errors and urge to nap during daytime. • Academic stress is one of the key factors behind sleep disorders among adolescents • It is also important to know the causal factors that are uncontrollable such as medication. In such cases one must consult a medical professional. • Allergic reactions, chronic pain, cold and fever also lead to sleeping disorders. • One must have a sleep routine to deal with these issues, before sleeping taking a warm water bath helps, a light meal should be consumed and at least two hours before bed time screens should be avoided. • To increase the melatonin (the sleep hormone) levels in the body, low voltage lights should be used. • Calm-soothing music could be played to relax and prepare our body for sleep. • We need to introduce Digital Curfew, this means that we stay away from our devices and even while using it, we need to dim our brightness. • Adolescence is a stressful stage, there is physical transition, individuals want to spend time with their family and friends and have to make career choices as well. They need to learn time management. • Mapping ones thought at the end of the day also helps the brain relax.
THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SLEEP PATTERNS • A study conducted on students who studied during morning hours and evening hours showed that the academic performance of students who studied during the evening was better because they woke up later and felt more relaxed.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Children who slept late and completed their sleep cycle tend to show lesser mood disorders. PCOD in girls and hypothyroidism in adolescents are on a rise due to their inadequate sleep patterns. Sleep deficiency changes the way in which our immune system responds. Changing patterns daily confuses the brain further causing chaos and delayed relaxation and sleep. Meditation is like mini sleep, when we are meditating the same restorative powers and healing activities are activated which is derived due to sleep.
ROLE OF NUTRITION IN IMPROVING OUR SLEEPING PATTERNS • Studies have shown high associations between children who do not sleep on time are tired and do not indulge in physical activity. • Adolescents sleep through morning, skipping an entire meal and to compensate for that they start snacking. It is important for adolescents to learn that good nutrition helps in sleeping better. • Stimulants, heavy meals and exercises, horror movies and gadgets must be avoided during evening to sleep better. • The link between nutrition and sleep is defined by the meal composition, nutritional quality of the food, timing of meal and nutritional status. • Eggs, fish, nuts, cereals, rice and fruits like grapes, cherries and strawberries and fermented pulses are foods rich in melatonin. • Protein rich foods help in sleeping better. • Flavored tea also helps adult sleep better. • Fatty and spicy meals cause indigestion, further disrupting our sleep. • A common misconception is that alcohol helps in falling asleep, it may “knock you out” but it does not provide a restful sleep.
ROLE OF PARENTS AND SCHOOLS IN IMPROVING THE SLEEP PATTERNS OF ADOLESCENTS • Adolescents don’t have control over their sleep cycle and parents need to be more flexible regarding this. • A study showed that despite having staggered school timing children were unable to perform better in academics because of their long travel hours, emphasising the importance of smaller distances.
SURVEY FINDINGS
Around 65.3 respondents said that they will see a doctor if they feel restless or have difficulty sleeping. An overwhelming 99.4% of the people agreed that good nutritional habits play an important role in a healthy sleep cycle. Only about 53.4% of the respondents were aware of the impacts of changes occurring in the cardiac rhythm and brain maturation during adolescence. Only about 53.4% of the respondents were aware of the impacts of changes occurring in the cardiac rhythm and brain maturation during adolescence. A majority of 67% of people thought that on an average adolescents should get 6-7 hours of sleep every day. Almost 99.4% of the respondents agreed that an unhealthy sleep cycle can affect one’s health and academic performance.
Webinar 24
Young & Inexperienced Drivers: Safety implications & risk taking behavior
To mark the celebration of Road Safety Month 2021, SHARP hosted a webinar on understanding risky driving and aggressive driving behaviour. As per the World Health Organization, accident related deaths are known to be the eighth leading cause of death and the first largest cause of death among children aged 5-14 and adults in the age 15-29. Road accidents in India kill almost 1.5 lakh people annually. Urgent action on road safety through technological, behavioural and parental action is of utmost importance. Teaching Road Safety to young drivers is integral to be able to self-analyze and criticize themselves for their wrong driving behaviour.
This webinar cum panel discussion focuses on:
1. Road accidents among young drivers & possible mediators of risky driving 2. Teaching Road Safety: Guiding Parents & Teachers 3. Safe driving practices & tips for defensive driving 4. Use of technological and behavioral interventions to reduce risky driving
Esteemed Panelists:
DR. GEETAM TIWARI MoUD Chair Professor for Transport Planning at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi
MR. DIEWAKARR Anupam Mittal Policy Professional at NITI Aayog
DR. SEEMA AHUJA Principal at Suraj School, Gurgaon
KEY TAKEAWAYS
ROAD SAFETY FACTS AND FIGURES • About 1,50,000 people are dying every year. • In India, it's the pedestrian, motorized two wheelers and bicyclists who form the majority of road accident victims. • For vehicles at 30 kilometers per hour the risk is only 8% when the same pedestrian is at 50 the risk is nearly 90%, and at 100 kilometer per hour the probability of injury is higher with a 60% chance of death of the driver and 100% for the pedestrian. • On the roads there exist black spots; these are defined as spots where accidents tend to happen more often. • In India jaywalking is a very common concept; people do not use the zebra crossings or the overhead pathway. Once the population starts using them, there will be lesser accidents and fatalities.
ROAD ACCIDENTS AMONG YOUNG DRIVERS • When very young children (below 8 years) are given traffic education, their involvement in crashes increases. This happens because children do not have the cognitive skills to judge speeds and to make all the right decisions. • Adolescents need to be educated that they are equal stakeholders in making the roads safe. • Under challenging situations, teen drivers are unable to immediately deal with the problem at hand. • Teenagers have shorter attention spans and they are easily distracted whether it's a text message or a negative reaction to social media posts; they are more focused on their phones than on what's going on around them. This reduces their reaction time on roads.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
common reasons that cause accidents with these new drivers could be changing lanes or turning without signaling or ignorance of road rules .
PREVENTIVE MEASURES • We have to adopt a Safe Systems Approach which mentions that we don't spend too much time in finding out who was the person at fault but we look at the systemic characteristic which leads to injuries. • Three most important principles of safe systems approaches are; we have to recognize human frailty, our body cannot withstand impact beyond certain limit, acceptance of human error - despite heavy training and education we are likely to make errors and for that reason it's our responsibility to create a forgiving environment. • To tackle the problem of speed, we need to change the road design by introducing speed humps and rumble strips. • Wearing helmet even at low speeds is as important as high speed. The helmet reduces the deceleration of the skull and therefore the brain injury is reduced, it spreads the forces of the impact over a greater surface area so they are not concentrated on particular area of the skull and it prevents direct contact between the skull and the impacting object. • The human error in road accidents can be and must be dealt with through awareness campaigns. • A peer-to-peer education system could also be adopted to spread more road safety awareness
ENSURING ROAD SAFETY AROUND CHILDREN • Children must be taught about the science behind speed. • In urban areas and especially around schools where children are vulnerable and unpredictable, we have to create low speed zones through road designs. • Going to a driving school is compulsory for someone to learn how to drive a motor vehicle. • Social-behavioural aspects must be instilled in children at a young age. • Schools can adopt the concept of traffic calming. This ensures that no vehicle drives over the speed of 10-15 kmph around schools. • Barricades can also be introduced to control the traffic when the students are reaching the school in the morning or when they are leaving in the afternoon. • There has to be a dedicated lane for the school buses for the safety of kids.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Adolescents could document their trips; they could mention all their observations on the road. This is how they would register the risks of a road or road behaviours. The youth must drive with an adult even after receiving their driver’s license. This is called the graduated driving scheme.
TECHNOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL INTERVENTIONS • At schools there need to be proper training or traffic parks can be built to teach kids about road safety. • There have to be more installations of trash barriers to prevent road accidents. • Rumble strips can be made on the road or the texture of the road can be changed to lower car speeds. • Narrower roads could also be constructed to slow the traffic. • Spaces could be redesigned to provide proper walking path to the pedestrians while also ensuring enough space for the buses to move. • School authorities can engage students in developing safe roads around schools and then take actions to rectify that with the help of a local PWD or municipality.
SURVEY FINDINGS
68% of the audience feels that increasing the age for solo driving would effectively reduce road crashes. As many as 91% of the audience opines that making the license tests more stringent will impart better road safety knowledge to the youth. Nearly 83.6% of the survey participants feel that car driving games influence the driving style of the youth. 95.1% of people think that road safety education in schools can prevent the risky road behaviour among adolescents. Among the several factors that could lead to higher road crashes among young drivers, the survey participants opine: • 42.6% believe it to be due to inexperience • 26.2% consider age to be a factor • Only 0.8% think it depends on the gender • 17.2% think it depends on the road environment • 13.1% opine that there are several other factors. 96.7% believe Traffic Training Parks should be introduced for better road safety education in children and adolescents.
