When Worlds Collide Adolescent Need for Sleep Versus Societal Demands

UR UNDERSTA N D I N G of the development of sleep patterns in adolescents has a dvanced considerably in the last 20 years. Along the way, theoretical models of the processes underly i n g the biological regulation of sleep have improved, and certain assumptions and dogmas have been examined and found wanting. Although the full characterization of teen sleep regulation remains to be acc o m p l i s h e d, our current unders t a n d i n g poses a number of challenges for the education system. The early 1970s found us with a growing awareness that sleep patterns change fundamentally at the transition to adolescence — a phenomenon that is widely ac-