CDC: Most high school-age students report not sleeping enough during pandemic

A majority of high school-age students nationwide reported not sleeping enough during the COVID-19 pandemic, often leading to academic and mental health issues, according to a new report released Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report, which surveyed more than 7,700 youth ages 13 to 18 who completed the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey between January and June 2021, found that 76.5% of students reported sleeping less than seven hours each school night. Those students, the report found, were also more likely to experience poor mental health and to have increased difficulty doing schoolwork than before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, only about a quarter of the students who averaged seven hours of sleep or more reported poor mental health, according to the report, which was released on the eve of World Sleep Day on Friday.

"Insufficient sleep among adolescents has been associated with lower academic grades, increased health risk behaviors, and poorer physical and mental health," the report found. "Most high school students were not sleeping enough during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was correlated with poor mental health."

Noelia Correia, 15, a sophomore at East Meadow High School, said she slept about six hours per night during the first few years of COVID-19 — a drop from her typical sleep routine before the pandemic that she attributed to staying up later at night.

But Correia said the loss of sleep did not have a detrimental effect on her academic performance or her mental health.

"I was still talking to my friends constantly and getting good grades," she said.

Lauren Broch, a psychologist with Northwell Health's Sleep Disorders Center, said many people, including teenagers, delayed their sleep during the pandemic.

For some, she said, it was the anxiety of the pandemic, while for others, including many high school-age youths, they were up late on their phones or scrolling through social media knowing they did not have to get up as early to travel to school during remote learning. 

"And poor sleep can lead to more mood irritability, depression, anxiety, and exacerbate disorders if someone already has one," Broch said. "Conversely, a psychiatric condition, or even poor mood, can lead to poor sleep."

The report suggests that policies designed to improve sleep duration among students, including later school start times, could support the learning and mental health of high school-aged students.

At least one Long Island school district is considering such a plan.

Even before COVID-19, the Syosset Central School District began evaluating a plan to push back the 7:39 a.m. start of the school day for high school students to increase the amount of sleep they are getting. 

While the plan was put on hold during the pandemic, it was recently revived by the district, which posted a survey on its website for parents to share their thoughts.

"Studies show that older adolescents need  eight to 10 hours of sleep for optimal health," said Philomena Hefferon, a spokeswoman for the district. "So it is a conversation about 'how can we give them that and allow them to sleep later.' " 

But Hefferon acknowledges that pushing back the start time to as late as 9 a.m. is "not a silver bullet." Among the considerations, the district said, is how the change could affect elementary and middle school start times, transportation schedules, extracurricular activities and child care routines.

Maya Ramagopal, an associate professor at Rutgers University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a sleep medicine expert, said most teens don't consistently get enough sleep, largely because they use electronics too close to bedtime.

"Technology stimulates your brain, which makes it more difficult to fall asleep," she said. "Even with blue-light filters, the content can be a factor in preventing sleep onset."

Maintaining regular sleep and wake hours, as much as possible, is critical for the mental health of students, Broch said. 

Among her suggestions is taking regular naps, getting outside more during daylight hours and eating regularly scheduled meals.

"It's about resetting our internal clock the same time every morning," she said.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.