Sleep Habits Can Predict Teen Drinking, Marijuana Use, Study Says
http://www.medicaldaily.com/sleep-quality-can-predict-teen-drinking-and-marijuana-use-study-says-398305
This article suggests that a study has discovered that sleep quality and the length of sleep in late childhood can predict alcohol and drug use later in adolescence. The study in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, was put together by researchers from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Pitt Department of Psychology.
The researchers studied 186 boys from Western Pennsylvania. They looked at the responses from the Child Sleep Questionnaire that the boy's mothers filled out. The responses to the survey helped to figure out the quality of sleep the 11 year old boys were getting. At ages 20 and 22, they were then interviewed about their marijuana and alcohol use. A lot of factors came into play, such as, race, socioeconomic differences, neighborhood issues, self-regulation- when the connection between sleep quality and substance use was founded.
As a result, the boys who slept the least had earlier indulgences in drug and alcohol usage. The study revealed a 20% acceleration to the first use of marijuana or alcohol, with every hour of sleep lost in late childhood. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, "people aged between 12 and 20 years consume 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the country; there were nearly 189,000 emergency room visits related to underage drinking in 2010".
This article did not take me by surprise, because sleep is vital in our everyday lives, of course lack of sleep is going to have negative effects. I was shocked that it contributed to drug and alcohol use, instead I thought there would have been more stress or less motivation as a result instead. The physiological impact of drug and alcohol has not been discussed in class yet. Although, if this article went into more biological detail of why these boys are becoming involved with drugs and alcohol, then maybe it would have mentioned the Ventral Tegmental Area in our midbrains. This is the addiction portion in our brains that makes us want more of something. It can be other things besides drugs and alcohol, such as food and sex. If there is a rewarding feeling, then this area makes sure you won't resist it. We also learned that dopamine is a rewarding neurotransmitter, that is triggered whenever these addictive things enter our body. Overall, this article was informative and every adult with a child should read this so they can ensure their child is getting the right amount of sleep.
This article suggests that a study has discovered that sleep quality and the length of sleep in late childhood can predict alcohol and drug use later in adolescence. The study in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, was put together by researchers from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Pitt Department of Psychology.
The researchers studied 186 boys from Western Pennsylvania. They looked at the responses from the Child Sleep Questionnaire that the boy's mothers filled out. The responses to the survey helped to figure out the quality of sleep the 11 year old boys were getting. At ages 20 and 22, they were then interviewed about their marijuana and alcohol use. A lot of factors came into play, such as, race, socioeconomic differences, neighborhood issues, self-regulation- when the connection between sleep quality and substance use was founded.
As a result, the boys who slept the least had earlier indulgences in drug and alcohol usage. The study revealed a 20% acceleration to the first use of marijuana or alcohol, with every hour of sleep lost in late childhood. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, "people aged between 12 and 20 years consume 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the country; there were nearly 189,000 emergency room visits related to underage drinking in 2010".
This article did not take me by surprise, because sleep is vital in our everyday lives, of course lack of sleep is going to have negative effects. I was shocked that it contributed to drug and alcohol use, instead I thought there would have been more stress or less motivation as a result instead. The physiological impact of drug and alcohol has not been discussed in class yet. Although, if this article went into more biological detail of why these boys are becoming involved with drugs and alcohol, then maybe it would have mentioned the Ventral Tegmental Area in our midbrains. This is the addiction portion in our brains that makes us want more of something. It can be other things besides drugs and alcohol, such as food and sex. If there is a rewarding feeling, then this area makes sure you won't resist it. We also learned that dopamine is a rewarding neurotransmitter, that is triggered whenever these addictive things enter our body. Overall, this article was informative and every adult with a child should read this so they can ensure their child is getting the right amount of sleep.
I found this article and your response to be very interesting. I was surprised in finding out that lack of sleep in childhood would have such an effect on predicting teen drinking and marijuana use, but in a way it does make sense. Although we haven't learned about this specific concept in class, I applaud your connection to the Ventral Tegmental Area and to dopamine. Another neurotransmitter that could be relevant to this article is GABA, the predominant inhibitory transmitter; this neurotransmitter has receptors that respond to alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback! Yes, I completely agree that GABA is relevant in alcohol addiction. I also found it interesting that sleep is so vital in our lives and without it, it can cause us to get involved in bad habits such as addiction.
DeleteI always found this topic to be interesting. There seems to be a rising prevalence of substance abuse in adolescents. My brother is currently in high school and talks about how a lot of his classmates discuss drug and alcohol abuse. A majority of them smoke a lot of marijuana and a good portion of them do drink alcohol and talk about how drunk they got over the weekend. There is only a handful of students that do the harder drugs (cocaine, molly, shrooms, etc). That is still too many adolescents using those drugs. I am intrigued by the correlation between this and sleep. The high school starts their classes at 7:40 in the morning. A lot of the kids do not have transportation to school from a parent, so they have to walk or ride the bus if they are far enough away that the school will arrange a bus for them. My brother is awake and getting ready for school every morning around 6:30AM. We only live a 10 minute walk away from school but he still has to get up that early. Then they have heavy amounts of homework, and some of them have after school activities that they have to do as well. It's unfair to them and not allowing them to get the proper amount of sleep that they need.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that more adolescents over the years are getting involved in drug and alcohol abuse. I remember being in high school and having friends who would always drink and do other things. Even people I did not know well were involved in such things. Also, you make a great point about the times students have to wake up and actually I heard on the news the other day that they are going to change the start time for students. The news also mentioned that sleep is vital in a students motivation to learn and if times are later in the day then that may increase their scores on tests, attendance, and so forth. I definitely think that there needs to be adjustments so that students can get more sleep and do better in school.
DeleteAfter reading your summary, a few questions came to mind and I wanted to know more about how sleep can affect drug/alcohol use. Do girls show the same effects as the boys tested in this study? Why do we make adolescents get up for school so early if the amount of sleep could affect alcohol/drug use? Overall, this article was very intriguing and makes me want to know more. In my own life, in high school, I always noticed that the kids who were using drugs or drinking alcohol usually were the kids who partied late and did not do well academically, so this study seems to relate to my own experiences. In my adolescent psychology classes we learned how sleep severely affects a teens academic achievement and how sleep plays a vital role in their growth and development, so it is interesting to see how sleeps has other effects as well.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if girls and boys were tested in a study, would they show similar effects. Yes, I agree that school should start later so there is no excuse as to why they should not attentive in class. Ever since I was little, I always went to bed late. Even when I would have to get up very early for school, I could not go to bed before 11 pm. I always hated getting up early and wished they would make school begin later. Your own experience and input from your adolescent class was very interesting and it is helpful to know that you can relate to this article. It really shows how true this study is!
DeleteThis article and your summary were very informative. I feel as though this study came out at a pivotal time in our country as more and more states are legalizing marijuana. Although the push for nationwide legalization/decriminalization is a good thing in my opinion, I do think it is important to consider how this will affect children, especially those in late adolescence. Furthermore, the increased consumption of alcohol by teens is something I've had experience with first hand so it was interesting that these researchers found a correlation between sleep and alcohol consumption. I'm wondering if there are certain circumstances or connections the kids who didn't sleep as well have. For example, divorced parents, number of siblings, academic achievement. All in all, I think this was a really informative summary that definitely peaked my interest in the topic.
ReplyDeleteThank you and I also agree that this article is very relevant in our generation. It does seem like there are other outside factors that are causing lack of sleep which results in alcohol or drug consumption. I personally think if a kid has a difficult home life, then it does affect their sleep cycle due to stress/depression/etc and results in them trying to feel happy/content again by abusing substances. That is another study I would like to read about and see if it is true though. Overall, I think you made a great point and I definitely agree with you!
DeleteThe results of this study took me by surprise at first because when I think of the effects of alcohol and marijuana, I think of decreased motor activity, cognitive functioning, and conscious awareness. All of which are involved in sleep as well. I decided to look at our class textbook to see if it could offer a more biological explanation of this; it says that after we stop drinking, the alcohol in our system in metabolized back to a low blood level and it becomes a stimulant (chapter 5, p. 132). The book explains that this is why having a few drinks in the evening will help you fall asleep, but will wake you up later in the night. Perhaps the lack of sleep the boys were experiencing led them to turn to alcohol for it's initial anxiety-inhibiting effects but the effects of the metabolized alcohol continued their low quality sleep.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well! I also thought that alcohol and marijuana usage stemmed from those mental factors as well. I think its great that you took advantage of the textbook to further look into this study and I think it is very interesting that alcohol disrupts our sleep in the middle of the night. I did assume that drinking helped individuals fall asleep but I never thought it made us wake later throughout the night. This probably means that the REM cycle is affected and that means someone is not able to indulge in true deep sleep which does take a toll on our overall well-being.
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