Study: Few High Schoolers Get Enough Sleep

monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday determined that most American high school students do not get sufficient sleep.

Looking at data from over 52,000 students between 2007 and 2013, researchers asked the students how many hours of sleep they get. The data was then separated by sex, grade, and race/ethnicity into those who answered “five hours or less,” “six hours,” “seven hours,” “eight hours,” or “nine hours or more.”

The study found that between 6.2 percent and 7.7 percent of females and eight percent to 9.4 percent of males reported getting nine or more hours of sleep. Researchers did note, however, that the percentage reporting nine or more hours of sleep decreased as grade level increased.

The CDC recommends that adolescents get nine to ten hours of sleep each day. The vast majority of students in this study, however, did not reach that standard.

The study didn’t specifically look at the effects of too little sleep on its participants, though researchers believe insufficient sleep can be harmful in areas including memory formation, chronic disease risk factors, increased risk of obesity and emotional problems.

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