Hyper-Mobile Youth -
Getting into Sleep Debt

Many of us feel that our lives are too busy, full of working and playing, full of ‘should’s and ‘must’s and ‘ought-to’s and this includes very many of our children too.In recent research carried out on by Nytol on the nation’s sleep habits, these over-scheduled kids have been dubbed ‘Hyper-Mobile Youth’ - over-booked tweens aged 10-12 and teens aged 13-19 whose main preoccupations are friends, school and TV.They are not getting enough sleep and, to varying extents, are accumulating sleep debt and experiencing poor sleep quality.

Hyper-Mobile Youth are incredibly over-scheduled - pulled between the wishes of their parents, their teachers and their peers; parents want to make sure they are high achievers at school. Schools and teachers are demanding more from them, exams are tougher, entrance to schools and universities is tighter, and school league tables put indirect stresses on our children to achieve higher grades. Added to this is the pressure to create and sustain an identity, to establish oneself with friends and build relationships.This takes time and energy and can affect their quality of sleep.

So, how does a typical 'Hyper-Mobile Youth' spend their day? This is from Elizabeth, a 15 year old student and girlfriend.

• School, eight hours: ‘I get ready for school around 7am and then my mum gives me a lift to school. I have to do homework as well until about 5pm when I get home.’
• Travel, approx. one hour: ‘Getting the bus into town after school is great as all my friends are on it.’
• Friends, approx. three hours: ‘At lunch I spend time with school friends, but during the evening I invite my village friends over to watch TV.’
• Family, approx. five hours: ‘I suppose family time is when I get home from school. Mum is usually there and then dad comes home around 7pm or 8pm. I like it when we sit down in front of the TV to watch something together.’
• Me-time, approx. two hours: ‘Listening to music is my favourite thing to do, as is reading magazines and emailing friends.’
• Sleep, approx. six hours: ‘I guess sleep is important but I like to stay up and watch TV, as the programmes are much better then.’

What this means is that Hyper-Mobile Youth are accumulating more sleep debt than they should at their age. In five years, if unchecked, this sleep debt could rise to that of a fully-grown adult. If they grow up accustomed to a sleep deficit then it may be harder for them to realise how bad their sleep debt has become when they are adults.

Persuading a child to get more sleep is no easy task, as they also become adept at constructing their own ‘connected cocoons’ inside their bedrooms, surfing the net or watching TV unbeknownst to their parents. However children trying to get by on only six hours sleep a night cannot possibly be at their best at school and will not have the energy to do the things that they enjoy.

Nytol Herbal is a sleep aid designed to gently restore natural sleep patterns and encourage a good night's sleep. Each tablet contains natural active ingredients including; Hops, Dogwood Jamaica, Dry Extract of Wild Lettuce, Dry Extract of Passiflora and Dry Extract of Pulsatilla. It is available from Boots, Superdrug, major supermarkets and chemist's stores nationwide.

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