An estimated 20% of teens from top schools in Singapore are getting enough sleep, reports Channel NewsAsia.
About 2,000 students from several top secondary schools and junior colleges responded to a survey by the researchers. At one junior college, over half the students surveyed said they slept less than six hours a night.
For 14 to 17-year-olds, the recommended amount of sleep is eight to 10 hours a night. Teens who sleep less tend to have poorer cognitive skills and worse grades than their well-rested peers, according to Professor Michael Chee, director of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke-NUS.
“They invest a lot of time studying, and sleep plays a major role in memory consolidation and learning. If you don’t sleep, it is like building a sandcastle and then have the tide take it out,” said Prof Chee in an interview with Channel NewsAsia’s It Figures programme.
