More Ranting Infos

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7843137/
This article is so full of it... putting not sleeping down to rebellion and lack of sense rather than normal teenage function.

As to why your son is fighting you, the answer is simple: He's a teenager! At his age, sleep seems to be a waste of time because there are so many more “important” things to do (talk on the phone, play computer games, or catch another show on TV). His being reticent to hit the sack is normal, as is your insistence that he gets to bed at a decent hour!Your son is at an age when you cannot expect him to use good judgment and reasoning when it comes to health matters.

What a control freak thing to say. I now present my refuting statements.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A633098

Although the rest of us operate on a 24-hour cycle or circadian rhythm, the internal clock of the typical teenager runs much slower, on a cycle of 26 to 30 hours. It's no use telling them to go to bed at 11pm because their internal clock is showing only 8pm. When the alarm goes off at 7am, their body tells them it's 4am.

http://www.apollolight.com/new_content/circadian%20rhythms_disorders/sleep/teen_sleep.html

As teenagers mature, their body clocks over produce melatonin and other sleep hormones to help their bodies recover from growth spurts and rapid changes. This is often at odds with their school schedule, as high school starts an hour before Jr. high. Teens get up earlier, stay up late doing homework or playing on weekends, and sleep in late on weekends. This late schedule, combined with an increase in melatonin can severely delay the sleep cycle and make it extremely difficult to wake up on time.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?retryCount=3&id=CC00019

After age 16, the nightly release of melatonin takes place about 30 minutes later than it does in early adolescence, making it harder to fall asleep until later in the night.

Unfortunately, this change occurs just when a child's need for sleep increases. Though eight hours of sleep is usually enough for younger children, most adolescents need 8 1/2 hours to 9 1/4 hours each night. This increased need for sleep conflicts with the teenage body's delayed sleep-wake cycle — and with the early start times of most high schools. Despite having to get up before 7 a.m., more than half of teenagers polled in a survey by the National Sleep Foundation said they went to sleep after 10 p.m., and nearly a quarter said they're normally up past 11 p.m. As a result, most teens only manage to squeeze in seven hours of sleep a night, and more than a quarter of adolescents regularly sleep 6 1/2 hours or less.

Because teens have a significantly delayed circadian rhythm, many sleep specialists recommend that they reset their sleep schedules by significantly delaying their sleep patterns until they are again in sync with daily clock. This is done by letting the teen stay up as late as he wants to as well as couple of additional hours before letting him/her fall asleep. This usually means he/she will stay awake until the wee hours of the morning.

Please, I hope no one argues with the Mayo clinic.