Why can’t teenagers get up in the morning?

They refuse to go to bed at a decent hour, moan when they have to get up for school and lie in
bed for hours at weekends. During the ‘terrible teens’ period, most children appear to develop a lazy
streak. And now it seems that their inability to get up in the morning may not be their fault, with research
showing that teenage body clocks may simply be out of sync . a slight shift forward in the body’s natural
rhythms makes teenagers annoyingly alert late at night and frustratingly groggy in the morning. While this
may be irritating for their parents, it could have serious consequences for the teenagers themselves.

New Scientist magazine explains: ‘Evidence is emerging that teenagers are biologically incapable
of going to be at a sensible time. This is no trivial matter . if teens are refugees from a different time zone,
then by making them get up and go to school before their bodies are ready, we are no just making school
life difficult for them and their teachers, we also putting them at risk. Sleep deprivation bleak their future
prospects, their health and even their lives.’

Toronto University psychologist, Professor David Brown, said: ‘Adolescents, who are usually
evening types, perform very poorly in the morning, which is the time of day that they are usually assessed
for examinations. There are some kids whose teachers have simply never seen them at their best and that
is a terrible shame.’

However, getting good grades could be the least of their problems, with other research showing
that disruptions to our body clock could seriously damage our health. Tests on hamsters showed that
changing their cycle of sleeping and wakefulness had shocking consequences. Dr Martin Ralph, of Toronto
University, said: ‘Their cardiovascular system was destroyed, they suffered kidney disease and they died
much earlier.’

His findings look jeopardises for sleep-deprived teenagers. ‘These kids are being woken in the
night – before their body should wake – and are suffering the equivalent of chronic jet lag,’ he said. ‘All of
our animal studies show how harmful this is to health.’

Other studies have shown that sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to smoke than their well-
rested peers and are prone to depression and anxiety. And half of all people who die in a car accident
through falling asleep at the wheel are aged between 16 and 25.

Despite the potentially fatal consequences of a shortage of sleep, very few teenagers get the
nightly nine hours recommended to keep them in tip-top condition. The situation is so bad that many
teenagers exhibit symptoms more usually associated with narcolepsy, a serious condition which sufferers
can nod off in an instant.

Although it isn’t known exactly how our body clock controls our sleeping hours, it is thought that
teenagers are around an hour out of sync with everyone else. Our natural cycle is kept in check by two
mechanisms – one promotes wakefulness, while the other enhances sleepiness. During the day, the ever-
increasing pressure to fall asleep is kept in check by hormones stimulated by light. But, at dusk, our bodies
produce the hormone melatonin, which encourages sleepiness. At the same time, the body temperature
cools and metabolism slows, and eventually we succumb to sleep.

In teenagers, there are two key changes. The build-up of pressure to fall asleep is much more
gradual, making it easier for them stay up later and be alert later. And their bodies start to produce
hormone melatonin around an hour later than usual. While some researchers are trying to find ways to
reset the adolescest biological clock, other favour a more simple solution Dr Ralph advised: ‘Schools and
university should ideally not start before 11 a.m.’

a. Bleak: (of a situation or future prospect) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favorable
outcome
b. Jeopardises: put (someone or something) into a situation in which there is a danger of loss, harm,
or failure
c. Metabolism: a term that is used to describe all chemical reactions involved in maintaining the
living state of the cells and the organism
d. Moan: a long, low sound made by a person expressing physical or mental suffering or sexual
pleasure.
e. Out of sync: working badly together
f. Sleep deprivation: not having enough time of sleeping
g. Succumb to sleep: yield to sleep
h. Trivial matter: things in life that have almost no value.