Caffeine-Drinking Teens Don't Get Enough Sleep

Article of the Week (AoTW) #9
Due: Friday, November 30th
Name: __________________________
Date_____________________
Period: _____
Article of the Week (AoTW) # 9
Title: Caffeine-Drinking Teens Don’t Get Enough Sleep
Lexile Level: 1470
Author: ScienceDaily (July 25, 2009)
Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND ANNOTATIONS
Read the following article carefully and annotate in the margin as you read.
Your notes should include:
● Comments showing that you understand the article.
● Questions showing what you are wondering as you read.
● Notes showing what you are thinking as you read.
● Reactions showing what you are agreeing and/or disagreeing with as you read.
Your annotations are part of your score for this assignment.
Caffeine-Drinking Teens Don’t Get Enough Sleep
Fueled by caffeine teens are up late at night, and they aren’t just focusing
on homework. Web surfing, text messaging and gaming are keeping them
up for hours into the night, according to a recent study by Drexel University’s
Dr. Christina Calamaro, assistant professor in Drexel’s College of Nursing
and Health Professions.
The study found that the more multitasking a teen did, the more likely
the teen would be dozing off during the day. The findings were published in
Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Calamaro and researchers (Mason B. Thornton and Sarah Ratcliffe)
asked 100 middle and high school students aged 12 to 18 to complete a
questionnaire to measure nighttime intake of caffeinated drinks, use of
media-related technology and sleep patterns. The majority of the sample
Notes on my thoughts, reactions,
and questions:

used some form of technology, with 66 percent having a television in their
bedroom, 30 percent a computer, 90 percent a cell phone and 79 percent an
MP3 digital audio player.
The researchers found that 20 percent of those studied got the
recommended eight or more hours of sleep during school nights with the
rest getting less than eight hours. The average sleep for U.S. adolescents
is seven hours, according to Calamaro. At least 30 percent of teenagers
reported falling asleep during school. Caffeine consumption tended to be 76
percent higher among those who fell asleep. Most teenagers used multiple
electronic media late into the night and consumed a variety of caffeinated
beverages, including many popular energy drinks marketed to their age
group, said Calamaro.
To gauge how heavily the study participants used technology at night,
Calamaro and her team developed a measure they call “multitasking index.”
The index took the total amount of hours a teen spent doing each of nine
different activities—ranging from watching TV, listening to MP3s, watching
DVDs, surfing the web and doing homework—and divided that by nine or
the number of hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The index was significantly
related to falling asleep during school and difficulties falling asleep on
weeknights.
“Many adolescents used multiple forms of technology late into the night
and concurrently consumed caffeinated beverages,” said Calamaro. “Their
ability to stay alert and fully functional throughout the day was impaired by
excessive daytime sleepiness.”
At least 85 percent of those studied reported drinking caffeine. For those,
the average caffeine intake was 144 mg with a range from 23 to 1458 mg.
Only 27.5 percent consumed less than 100 mg of caffeine daily or the
equivalent of drinking a single espresso, whereas 11.2 percent drank more
than 400 mg daily or the equivalent of four espressos.
Although caffeine consumption tended to be lower for the 20 percent
that slept for eight to 10 hours on a school night, it wasn’t enough to merit
statistical significance. Sleep was significantly related to multitasking.
Teenagers getting eight to 10 hours of sleep had lower multitasking indexes;

those getting six to eight had higher multitasking indexes. At least 33
percent of the teenagers reported falling asleep at least twice during school
hours.
Regardless of socioeconomic status, teenagers tasked on average four
activities late into the night, according to Calamaro.
“Even though we know adolescents are on a different time schedule than
adults, we still need to get them less wired at night,” she said. “Parents need
to discourage teenagers from drinking caffeine past noon time and keep
TVs, computers and especially cell phones out of kids’ bedrooms.”
AoTW Question Template
Use the template below to organize your responses. When the template is complete, write your responses
in the form of a paper i.e. - no numbers; use paragraph indents and transition words.
1. Create the Topic Sentence for Your Paper
I
(Identify the Item)
V
(Verb)
F
(Finish the Thought)
Article #5, “ Caffeine-Drinking Teens
Don’t Get Enough Sleep” by Science
Daily
tells
explains
describes
features
provides
shows
illustrates
presents
gives
addresses
2. Identify the Main Idea of the Article
The main idea of the article is ______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

3. Connect Your Topic Sentence and Main Idea Together to Build Paragraph #1.
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
4. Select a passage from the text as your “Golden Line”. Explain why you chose it and how it relates
to the main idea. This will create paragraph #2.
The evidence I selected as a golden line was “________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
This passage (shows, illustrates, gives, describes, tells, explains . . .)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Connection to Others or Yourself: This will create paragraph #3.
Explain how this issue can relate to one’s life. (How might it relate to the lives of others or affect yours?)
Sentence Starters:
*The issue ______________ is important because...
*This can affect other people (or me) by...
*One example is...
*Other people should be aware of this issue because...
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

__________________
6. Conclusion
What I take away from this article is ________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________ because ________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.