Thursday's Psychology Trivia: T or F Insufficient Sleep & Excessive Hours Online Lead to Emotional Problems for Teens?

Thought for the Day: There's close to 2 feet of new snow outside my door & I have come down with bronchitis. However, I still want to post today. Last night the Photo Contest ended and we have a winner. I want to announce the winner and keep the regular schedule of the blog in place. The winner is Patty N Neal Bilyeu from Facebook. They chose the Boston Strong image which was number one for last year. I will be contacting them to arrange their prize. 







Today is Thursday & it is time for the Psychology Trivia Question:

True or False: Insufficient sleep and excessive hours online lead to depression and emotional problems in teenagers

The answer is true.  Teens who don't get enough sleep are 4 times more likely to develop major depressive disorder than their peers who sleep more. In a recent study by University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, a study of 4,000 teenagers found a strong correlation between lack of adequate sleep and depression. It is unclear from the study which comes first depression which leads to poor sleep patterns or visa versa, that poor sleep leads to depression. Seventy percent of teenagers go not get the 9 - 10 hours of sleep recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In another recent study, from Sweden the researchers found that lack of sleep and excessive media involvement were associated with depression and suicidal behaviors.  The Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm collected data from over 12,000 European adolescents. They found that teens in both groups, insufficient sleep and excessive hours on the internet were 3 times as likely to have mental health problems.

These findings make it important for parents to monitor their children's bed times and internet use. It does get harder during the adolescent years, however, given these finding, helping your kids to learn to make time for sleep and limit their internet consumption is important.

If you would like to read more about these studies, click here.