Teens Can Increase Sleep Duration by Advancing Bedtime

MONDAY, June 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Adolescents can increase sleep duration by advancing bedtime, according to a study published online June 12 in Pediatrics.

Ian G. Campbell, Ph.D., from the University of California Davis in Sacramento, and colleagues examined whether teenagers can increase sleep duration by advancing bedtime. Data were included for a younger cohort of 77 participants aged 9.9 to 16.2 years who were studied annually for three years and an older cohort of 67 participants aged 15.0 to 20.6 years studied only once. For four consecutive nights, participants kept each of three different time in bed (TIB) schedules (seven, 8.5, and 10 hours); participants kept their habitual weekday wake times and altered TIB by advancing bedtime.

The researchers found that sleep duration increased with TIB as bedtime was advanced despite increases in sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset. There was an increase observed in average sleep duration from 402.8 to 470.6 to 527.5 minutes with seven, 8.5, and 10 hours TIB, respectively. There was a decrease seen in sleep duration with age (1.55 minutes/year), but the effect of TIB on sleep duration was not affected by age.

“Our current findings supporting the effectiveness of advancing bedtime require additional studies to determine how to translate these findings into real-world applications to increase adolescent sleep duration,” the authors write.