Filed in: Health & Wellbeing
This post was written by high school students from the Summer Research Boot Camp in the labs of Andrew Fuligni and Sandra Graham at UCLA, led by Jenna Felkey, Selam Mulugeta, and Ritika Rastogi.
Authors: Ekwueme William Chibuzo Udo, Bryan Ardon-Contreras, Addison Hudson, Bryan Salvador, & Andrew Wu
After learning about sleep, we realized that we all had our own struggles with sleep. Some of our habits included: exercising right before bed, using technology to go to sleep, having an irregular sleep schedule, and waking up during the night. We didn’t realize that we were harming ourselves without knowing.
During this research boot camp, we were introduced to the importance of sleep during adolescence. We learned that sleep is directly correlated with maintaining a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally. For example, teenagers today face a lot of issues including depression and anxiety, which can be related to insufficient sleep. As a result, we want to advocate for better sleep education to teach teenagers about the importance of sleep. Adolescents need to be aware of signs that they may not be getting enough sleep and that it may be harming them, such as being forgetful, irritable, or stressed, or tired during the day. Sleep helps you stay awake, supports your physical and mental health, influences your behavior, and allows for an overall healthier lifestyle. We also want them to practice a routine in order for them to have a healthy sleep schedule.
As adolescents, we know that people our age are more likely to listen to each other. During this research boot camp, we learned a lot about sleep and we want to make sure that other adolescents get this information. It is important for faculty and staff at schools to have this information as well. If they understand the effects of excessive homework assigned, bullying, stress in schools, and early school start times on sleep, they can be more considerate of their students and work towards resolving these issues. Teachers need to know their students and the effects of their actions on each student. All in all, sleep is important to adolescents and everyone should take it seriously.
In the last discussion of our 2024 Adolescent Brain Development Symposium, Joanna Williams, Senior Director of Research at Search Institute, took the stage with Le’Yondo Dunn, CEO of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, and Haafizah Carter, an alumnus of the school, to talk about the impact of civic engagement on purpose.
In the third discussion of our 2024 symposium, science journalist Lydia Denworth talked with Natasha Duell, assistant professor of Psychology and Child Development at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, LaJuan Allen, director of Vote16USA, and Audrey Rothenberg, a senior at Culver City High School and volunteer at Vote16 Culver City about how civic engagement can support the need to explore and take positive risks during adolescence.
