If you have any teenagers in your home or classroom -- or if you just remember your own high school sleeping habits -- you already know that staying up late, struggling to rise with the alarm clock, and snoozing until noon on weekends are par for the course.

One reason that adolescents become night owls is due to the demanding lifestyle of this age group -- which includes heavy loads of homework and busy social lives.

But another, more natural reason is triggered by a unique biological shift that occurs during the teenage years.

Scientists have known for a long time now that our biological clocks shift forward during adolescence.

Instead of feeling drowsy in the evenings, teenagers tend to become more alert and have a difficult time settling into sleep (likely because melatonin, which causes sleepiness, is secreted on a delayed timetable).

By the same token, in the mornings -- when young children and adults are wide-awake and primed for the day -- teenagers maintain elevated melatonin levels and often feel groggy as a result.

And this is exactly why the chorus of doctors and school administrators advocating for later high school start times has grown louder in recent years.

A teen who rises for school at 6:30 a.m. is fighting against a biological force of sleepiness, and later in the day might find it difficult to doze off in time to make-up for this lost sleep.

In this week’s ‘From Theory to Practice’ video, I discuss the following research article that examines the fundamental linkage between sleep, learning and memory formation:

A Mechanism for Learning with Sleep Spindles (Adrien Peyrache and Julie Seibt, April 2020)

Here are some of the questions I tackle in this installment:

·        What are the two unique forms of neuroplasticity … and which one is most prevalent during sleep?

·        What are sleep spindles … and why do scientists believe they are essential to long-term memory formation and consolidation?

·        What are sleep cycles … and why are they NOT all created equally?

·        How are teenagers unique with regard to sleep cycles and circadian rhythms … and how does this phenomenon conflict with traditional schooling practices?

·        What are the key takeaways for teachers when it comes to managing teenage/adolescent students and helping them achieve better learning outcomes?

You can watch the full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca4iobY--Zs