Sleep Patterns, School Start Times and Adolescent Brains: A Conversation with Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom from the U of M’s College of Education & Human Development
Summary: <a href="http://www.cehd.umn.edu/olpd/people/faculty/Wahlstrom.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>The quantity and quality of sleep a person gets is important to health, safety and well-being at every age. But recent research highlights the unique sleep needs of adolescents and the high cost when those needs are not met – from poorer school performance to depression to greater risk of car accidents and more.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.cehd.umn.edu/olpd/people/faculty/Wahlstrom.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kyla Wahlstrom</a>, Senior Research Fellow at the <a href="http://www.cehd.umn.edu/news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Minnesota</a>, has studied this issue for more than 20 years, including a recently completed 3-year study with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She joins Marti & Erin for a lively discussion of what parents can do to ensure adolescents get the sleep they need and to make the case for why later school start times are an important part of the equation.<br> <br> <br> <br> What did you learn in this Mom Enough interview about how and why later school start times (after 8:30 am) are so important for adolescents? If your district has early school start times and is not likely to change them, what steps can you and your family take to improve the amount and quality of your children’s sleep?<br> <br> <br> <br> For Start School Later, <a href="http://www.startschoollater.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.<br> <br> For a study on the impact of later high school start times, <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/162769" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.<br> <br> For the U of M’s College of Education and Human Development, <a href="https://z.umn.edu/momenough" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.
