Sleep your teen to better behaviour

Worried about your teen making risky decisions? A solution might be as simple as letting them sleep longer. A meta-analysis of study results from 570,000 teenagers showed a direct link between sleep duration and risk-taking.

Michelle Short, lead author of the Australian clinical review, says: “If sleep loss results in more risky decisions, it can begin a self-perpetuating cycle with poor sleep leading to poor decision making about future sleep and so on.” Dr Short is keen to see future educational campaigns targeting sleep as a means of harm minimisation or reduction. It is recommended teenagers get between eight and 10-hours sleep a night.

Flinders University, January 2019