2023-05-08 18:14:17
The biological clock of adolescents is unsuited to the schedule that Quebec society imposes on them, according to a specialist.
In the United States, for example in California, a law even provides that no class can start before 8:30 in the morning.
Implemented in 2019, this measure has since had greater effects than anticipated.
The benefits of sleeping in the morning are numerous for adolescents, who thus obtain “better academic results”, are in better “physical and mental health”, and can even be in a better mood, explains in an interview on the program “Mario Dumont » Dr. Marie-Hélène Pennestri, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychopedagogy and Counseling Psychology at McGill University.
“What is important to understand is that we often have this idea of teenagers who are lazy, who are on their phone at night, that they don’t want to go to bed. But they really have, on a biological level, a shift in their clock. They will therefore tend to fall asleep later in the evening, and wake up later in the morning, ”explains the specialist.
Young people not only need a lot of sleep, “but especially in the morning,” says Ms. Pennestri.
It is therefore not enough to put them to bed earlier in the evening.
“It’s a bit like telling you to go to bed at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. at night. Even if you had all the good will in the world, it would be more difficult to fall asleep. It’s really linked to their biological clock,” she insists.
In Quebec, the logistics of school transportation seem to take precedence over the well-being of adolescents, notes Mr. Dumont.
“It’s very unfortunate,” agrees Ms. Pennestri, who notes, however, that beyond school transport, it is, for example, “the unions, which are not always necessarily aware of these benefits”, which can explain the state of affairs.
“It would be in our interest to all get together to think regarding and find solutions,” says the psychologist.
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