Sleep Study Report

The importance of sleep is in the news and on our community’s agenda.

The media was filled with major stories about sleep in October, from Reader’s Digest cover story, “The Magic Power of Sleep,” to The New York Times devoting its entire science section to the subject. New York magazine captured national attention with its “Snooze or Lose” story on the impact of sleep deprivation on adolescents, while NBC Nightly News and NPR also posted in-depth reports.

In our town, the Board of Education has agreed to keep sleep in mind. At press time, the motion before it would not change school start times, but would engage in community awareness efforts about sleep and incorporate sleep education in the curriculum.

The public forum held on October 1st was well-attended, and was a good start to what we hope will be an ongoing community dialogue about the obstacles preventing our adolescents from getting sufficient sleep and finding ways to help them stay healthy in a challenging world.

We hope you’ve seen the League’s own columns in The Advertiser about this topic. Our series on “sleep and adolescent health” began in September and will run the first week each month.

Going forward, the need to combat this serious public health issue will become increasingly evident, as scientists continue to make new connections between how much sleep we get and how well our bodies and minds perform. As Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Lawrence Epstein has said, “the link between sleep and health, and bad sleep and disease, is becoming clearer and clearer.”

Although we are disappointed that a change in school start times may not occur at present, the League will advocate for a continued look at the logistical options in the future. In schools that have moved to a later bell, the students are getting more sleep.