Sleepy, "Lazy" Teenagers?

By Dr. Joseph J. Horton

“During the summer most teens get more sleep, staying up later and sleeping much later than they do during the school year. Are teens simply being lazy during the summer?” In “Sleepy, ‘Lazy’ Teenagers?” (702 words), associate professor of psychology at Grove City College and contributing scholar with The Center for Vision & Values— Dr. Joseph J. Horton—sums up the latest sleep research which reveals, “Being a morning person is not … an indication of moral superiority. It reflects one’s biology.” “The physiology of typical teens leads them to be night owls. This tendency to stay up late and sleep late is very resistant to change.” Citing a pilot study conducted with his colleagues at Grove City College, Dr. Horton validates the conclusions of a sleep-research pioneer, which suggest “that the students did not have a sleep disorder; they were simply sleep deprived. Teens may appear to have problems with sleep because we force a schedule on them that is not suited to their physiological cycles.”

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