Institute for Continuing Education

Contemporary Perspectives of Adolescent Sleep

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the biological and circadian mechanisms underlying adolescent sleep patterns, including the role of puberty in sleep phase delay.
• Apply current American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) sleep duration recommendations to adolescent patient populations.
• Identify common sleep disorders in adolescents, including obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, delayed sleep-wake phase disorder, and narcolepsy.
• Conduct a comprehensive sleep history assessment using validated screening tools appropriate for pediatric and adolescent patients.
• Explain the impact of insufficient sleep on adolescent cognitive performance, mental health, and physical health outcomes.
• Evaluate the role of technology, screen time, and social media in adolescent sleep disturbances.
• Describe polysomnographic evaluation parameters and RPSGT responsibilities in pediatric sleep studies, including scoring criteria and technical considerations.
• Implement evidence-based interventions and treatment strategies for adolescent sleep disorders, including PAP management, titration protocols, and behavioral approaches.

Course Information

The need for the course arises from a number of sources, including increased concern about the fact that so many individuals are critically sleep deprived. For example, the Congressionally-mandated National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research cited insufficient sleep as a major problem associated with significant costs in terms of performance, productivity, and human suffering. Major catastrophic events, such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the Exxon Valdez, and the Challenger reflect just a few of the examples of performance and judgment deficits that have occurred as a result of sleep deprivation. Recent interest has also focused on “personal catastrophes” due to mismanaged sleep or sleep disorders, such as automobile, trucking and airplane crashes.

Unfortunately, adolescents are rarely included in such assessments – with the exception of automobile crashes where epidemiological data point to an overrepresentation of young drivers in sleep-related crashes: interestingly, adolescents as a group appear to be among the most sleepdeprived in our society.

This module discusses the genesis and development of sleep patterns during adolescence, examines biological and cultural factors influencing these patterns, examines risks that may be a consequence of adolescentsleep patterns, and explores environmental factors such as work and school schedules and their effects on sleep.