{"id":63960,"date":"2012-08-14T09:14:50","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T13:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=63960"},"modified":"2014-01-16T16:11:04","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T21:11:04","slug":"time-to-reset-body-clock-for-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/08\/time-to-reset-body-clock-for-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to Reset Body Clock for School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sleeping<\/a>
(Shutterstock Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It can be quite an adjustment for children: the transition from the summer schedule to one that requires getting up for school.<\/p>\n

And sleep experts at the UConn Health Center<\/a> say it takes more than moving bedtime up a few hours the night before the first day of school to reset the body clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a tendency, especially in adolescents, to go to bed later and to sleep later, and that\u2019s wired into us because of the biologic clock and the way we respond to light,\u201d says Dr. Daniel McNally<\/a>, medical director of the UConn Sleep Disorders Center. \u201cCome summer, that tendency has no restraint because they don\u2019t have to get up for school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The Top 5 Rules of Sleep for Teens:<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make time to allow yourself to get a sufficient amount of sleep. <\/strong>You need at least eight and a half hours of efficient, uninterrupted sleep a night to function at your best.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Have a consistent wake time every day.<\/strong> Be smart about your choices. Understand your body clock makes you feel like you want to go to bed late and sleep late. Resist the urge to sleep in on weekends.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Your sleep habits affect your school performance, sports performance, your relationships, and even your looks.<\/strong> Poor sleep habits work against the practice of good eating and exercise habits. In the long run they will work against your overall health, leading to problems like obesity and diabetes.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Understand that recreational use of drugs, including alcohol, will disturb sleep.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. No electronic devices in the bedroom at least 90 minutes before bedtime.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2013Dr. Jennifer Kanaan<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    The key to shifting that body clock to put it more in line with the demands of the school year is not bedtime, but wake time. McNally recommends rolling back wake-up time gradually each day starting a week before the first day of school.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s the light they\u2019re exposed to when they get up that does the job,\u201d McNally says. \u201cThe basic idea is to say, \u2018Instead of getting up at 9 or 10, we\u2019re going to start getting up at 8 tomorrow, and then 7 the next day, and then 6:30,\u2019 and have them on that schedule. If we can continue the routine\u2014on the weekends too\u2014this will work for almost all kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Dr. Jennifer Kanaan<\/a>, who specializes in child and adolescent sleep disorders, says most teens need eight and a half to nine hours of sleep. Success in this area is more likely in households that make good sleep habits a priority. (See sidebar, \u201cTop 5 Rules of Sleep for Teens.\u201d)<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe message for sleep-deprived kids is, you\u2019re shortchanging yourself,\u201d Kanaan says. \u201cIf you get enough sleep, you\u2019ll do better in school, better in sports, and better in your relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

    And the seemingly ubiquitous electronic devices present another obstacle.<\/p>\n

    \u201cTechnology can be an evil medium for sleep,\u201d Kanaan says. \u201cThe blue light waves will affect your sleep onset, plus, using your iPad or smartphone at bedtime will activate your mind at a time you need to be shutting it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

    She recommends unplugging 90 minutes before bedtime.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Follow\u00a0the UConn Health Center<\/a> on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Learn the keys to developing good sleep habits and their importance for the school year and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":63968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[57,2010],"class_list":["post-63960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 18:56:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63960"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88462,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63960\/revisions\/88462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/63968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63960"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=63960"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=63960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}