Teens’ sleep debt affects their attention spans, with a new study finding students who catch up on sleep over the weekend perform worse on attention tests than those who don’t.
The researchers from South Korea say the findings suggest "sleep debt" accumulated during the week might be wearing down the teens' intellectual resources.
"It's like a bank -- they are on constant, huge sleep overdraft," Dr. David Gozal, an expert in childhood sleep problems at the University of Chicago, told Reuters Health.
"If this is the way you manage your credit card, you will be bankrupt very soon," Gozal, who was not involved in the study, said.
On average, the Korean teens -- some 2,600 high school students -- only got five hours and 42 minutes of sleep on weekdays.
However, during the weekend they added nearly three hours of sleep per night, according to questionnaires they were given.
Those who slept more on weekends -- indicating they were sleep deprived during the week – performed worse on computerized attention tasks in class, Dr. Seog Ju Kim of Gachon University of Medicine and Science in Incheon and colleagues found.
Although their results don't prove that lack of sleep is to blame, they could not be explained by differences in age, sex, depression or snoring, the researchers report.
