Tired teenagers are more susceptible to injuries, the research guided by Brock suggests

Press release
Brock University
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It is generally known that teenagers need a good sleep to work well. However, recent international research in Brock University has increased the use of what could happen if your sleep is insufficient.

“We have observed a significant risk of injury among young people who had poor sleep,” says PhD student Valerie Pagnotta (BSC '21, MSC '23), leading author of the senior national study “Sleeping difficulties as a consistent risk factor for medically treated injuries in young people in 46 countries.”

The worse the quality and quantity of sleep, the greater the risk of or more injuries, says Pagnotta. Girls with bad sleep were particularly susceptible to injuries.

The six-member research team set out to examine the association of insufficient sleep for injuries in 46 countries.

Using records from the global health behavior of World Health Behavior in the survey (HBSC) at school age and the involvement of several international investigators in the HBSC network, the research team examined 230,000 young people aged 11, 13 and 15 in Canada and 45 European countries.

The participants reported on their sleeping behavior, including the frequency, such as difficulties falling asleep, inadequate quality and quantity of sleep at school and at school without school lesson as well as social jet lag, which relate to different sleep patterns on weekends and on other days without schools.

Young people were also asked how often they had experienced an injury that required medical treatment from a doctor or a nurse last year, and whether they had suffered a more serious injury in which a cast, stitch or surgery were required.

The self -reported polls from the teenagers of the teenager found that:

• 48 percent had insufficient sleep on school days compared to 13 percent on non-school days
• 44 percent had an injury with 21.5 percent with several injuries
• Girls generally report higher proportions of sleep difficulties in each of the 46 countries
• Young people who reported difficulties in falling asleep
• Girls showed one or more injuries compared to boys compared to boys, regardless of the sleep indicator

According to Pagnotta, adolescence is a particularly important time for physical, emotional and social growth and development.

“If young people do not get enough sleep or have difficulty sleeping, this can affect their cognitive functions, especially in the areas of social information processing, attention and decision -making,” she says.

“We believe that these impairments can contribute to an increased risk of injury to young people,” she says, adding that the higher risk of injuries observed in girls requires further investigations.

Mentoring Pagnotta in the study were Brock Professor of Health Sciences William Pickett and Professor of Public Health Medicine Peter Donnelly at the University of St. Andrews in Great Britain

Pickett heads the HBSC study in Canada under the HBSC survey of the World Health Organization.

He says that the relationships that have been uncovered between sleep and injury are “so consistent and so powerful that they cannot be ignored in the efforts of health policy”.

“From a political point of view, it is helpful for clinical and public members of the health professions to have such data in order to support their efforts to advise their patients and population groups about the importance of sleep hygiene, especially in children,” he says.

The latest study published last month in the European Journal of Public Health was financed by the Canadian public health authority. The Canadian Institute of Health Research from the Federal Government Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement and Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master's supported Pagnotta's work.

The latest research builds on an earlier study carried out by Pagnotta, Pickett, Professor of Health Sciences Jian Liu and Michelle Vine Assistant Professor for Health Sciences.

Her study, “inadequate sleep, impairment of sleep and medically treated injuries to Canadian young people: a national cross -sectional study” also found a connection between sleep deficits and injuries and described impairment as “calm epidemic” that affects up to a third of the young Canadian young people.

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