Out of Time — Let Sleeping Students Lie

My first-period class was chemistry, and literally three fourths of the class fell asleep at some time during the period.
— A college freshman, describing her high school chemistry class, as quoted by William C. Dement and Christopher Vaughan, The Promise of Sleep, 1999.

Adolescence has long been characterized as a period when hormones rage and physical and developmental changes occur. Researchers have found that adolescence is also a time when the human need for sleep increases markedly. Teenagers crave and require more sleep than those in their pre-teen years or in adulthood. In addition, it appears that teenagers often tend to be night owls (late to sleep and late to rise).

As they become more aware of current research findings, educators are realizing that many adolescents do not respond well to early-morning classes, in part because such classes seem to run counter to their natural sleep-wake cycles. This growing consensus among educators and researchers no doubt confirms what many high school students have long known intuitively.

Our loss of sleep time and natural sleep rhythms is the tragic legacy of a single and profound technological advance — the light bulb.
— William C. Dement and Christopher Vaughan, The Promise of Sleep, 1999.

Credit 47	Mr. Edison's Marvelous Invention. Thomas Edison's light bulb, patented in 1880, effectively changed or overrode the natural order of the world, creating new environmental patterns of light and dark that have often played havoc with human sleep patterns. Twentieth-century transportation advances, such as jet travel, have also disrupted circadian rhythms. Top: Edison bamboo filament lamp, ca. 1880. Bottom: GE manganese dioxide filament lamp, ca. 1906.
Credit 47	Ink blotter advertisements for the newly invented electric light bulb.
Credit 48	Drawing from Edison's light bulb (filament lamp) patent of 1880.
Credit 49	Patent for an Alarm Clock Bed (1882). This dire-looking device for waking reluctant sleepers was patented two years after Edison patented his light bulb. It is, perhaps, a fitting symbol of the unintended consequences of electricity.
Credit 50	The Chemistry of Coffee. Since sleep is a regulated behavior, studies on agents that affect sleep patterns may help researchers find out more about sleep regulation.
Credit 50	Why does caffeine seem to jolt us into wakefulness? The caffeine in coffee blocks adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter, which means that it helps transmit signals between nerves. It now appears that it may also be a possible sleep factor.