Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 50.
Most younger children get a good night's sleep and wake up fresh and energised the next day. In contrast, teenagers' body clocks change, creating a 'forbidden zone' for sleep at around 9 or 10 pm. Later on, in middle age, the clock changes again, making it hard for parents to stay awake just when their teenage kids are at their most alert.
To make matters worse, recent research has shown that using an electronic device in the hour before going to bed greatly affects sleep patterns. According to studies, teenagers who used a computer or mobile phone before bedtime were much more likely to need more than an hour to fall asleep, and were also more likely to sleep several hours less each night. Teens who used other electronic devices such as an MP3 player, tablet, game console or TV also experienced some sleep deprivation.
But how does this affect learning? In experiments carried out in North America, students were taught a series of skills and then slept for various lengths of time. The students who then had a good sleep improved further. The other students who got less than six hours' sleep either didn't improve or actually fell behind.
Other researchers are exploring the effect of light in setting sleep patterns, as darkness seems to trigger the release of melatonin, often called 'the sleep hormone', and light emitted from electronic devices tricks the brain into thinking it should be active rather than winding down. The solution here may involve the introduction of a 'digital sunset', where music, social media and all electronic devices are turned off a couple of hours before bed, similar to how the sun sets in the evening.
(Adapted from Optimise)
