{"id":1265,"date":"2012-02-10T09:57:08","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T14:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2012-02-10T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T17:00:23","slug":"study-suggests-that-9-hours-of-sleep-a-day-may-not-optimise-academic-performance-in-high-schoolers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2012\/02\/study-suggests-that-9-hours-of-sleep-a-day-may-not-optimise-academic-performance-in-high-schoolers\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests that 9 hours of sleep a day may not optimise academic performance in high schoolers"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the BYU press release:<\/p>\n

\"\"Whether or not you know any high school students that actually get nine hours of sleep each night, that\u2019s what federal guidelines currently prescribe.<\/p>\n

A new Brigham Young University study found that 16-18 year olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off that recommendation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about sleep deprivation,\u201d says study author Eric Eide. \u201cThe data simply says that seven hours is optimal at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new study by Eide and fellow BYU economics professor Mark Showalter is the first in a series of studies where they examine sleep and its impact on our health and education. Surprisingly, the current federal guidelines are based on studies where teens were simply told to keep sleeping until they felt satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you used that same approach for a guideline on how much people should eat, you would put them in a well-stocked pantry and just watch how much they ate until they felt satisfied,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cSomehow that doesn\u2019t seem right.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the new study, the BYU researchers tried to connect sleep to a measure of performance or productivity. Analyzing data from a representative sample of 1,724 primary and secondary school students across the country, they found a strong relationship between the amount of sleep youths got and how they fared on standardized tests.<\/p>\n

But more sleep isn\u2019t always better. As they report in the Eastern Economics Journal<\/em>, the right amount of sleep decreases with age:<\/p>\n