Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #35 Tired Teens Commit Crimes

Transcript

#35 Tired Teens Commit Crimes · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is the Happy Family's podcast with doctor Justin Wilson,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: where Luke and Susie and this is the podcast for
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the time poor parent who just wons answers.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Now as adults, sus we've all been sleep deprived grumpy teens.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: At some point where someone's asked us a question, we've
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: had nothing more than a grunt because for whatever reason,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: we've been burning the midnight all these days. It's quite
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: different from when we were younger, because I hear that
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of teens are not going to sleep because
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: they're facebooking and tweeting and the devices are controlling bedtime time.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: But whatever is the reason for the sleep not being there,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: this is not just about a grumpy, grunting team the
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: next morning. In fact, the consequences could be significantly greater
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: than that. To talk us through from Happy Families dot com,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: dot you, his name is doctor Justin Wilson.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Hello, how are you gay guys? Let's talk about these
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: grumpy teens.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: We've been there each of this, but now we're parenting,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we're worried about the consequences a little bit more that
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the stats are showing that it's not We're not just
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: selling about a grunt and a difficult team to deal with.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: We're talking about crime levels justin This.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Is a really curious study that's just come out in
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: the last last couple of weeks really February twenty three,
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: twenty seventeen, and what their researchers have discovered is that
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: if you have a teenager who is always tired, they're four.
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: Point five times more likely to commit crimes.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: As adults of adults as adults. So this was a
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: longitudinal study. The researcher, the research has collected the data
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: over thirty or forty years, so we're talking about a
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: very long study. All of this research was collected about
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: data as to how drowsy teens were, what kind of
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: backgrounds they were coming from, and all that sort of thing.
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: And then the researchers, after testing one hundred.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: And one fifteen year old boys and we're looking at
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: teenage boys in the North of England, went back through
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: and found the records, the crime records from the Central
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: Criminal Records Office and how to look at which of
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: those original one hundred one kids had a criminal record
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: at age twenty nine. And what they did was just
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: looked at violent crimes and property offenses they weren't looking
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: at the little things, just the things that were worthy
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: of significant convictions. They found that seventeen percent of participants
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: had actually committed a crime by the age of twenty
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: nine in adulthood. And they found that there were a
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: couple of things that predicted it socioeconomic status. I'm sorry,
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: I hate saying it, but people who come from impoverished backgrounds,
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: the lower the socioeconomic status, the greater the risk factor.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: That doesn't mean that.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: People who are not wealthy are going to be criminals,
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: not by any stretch. What it says is it's a
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: risk factor because unfortunately, people from those poorer backgrounds struggle
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: at school, they struggle with often self control, they often
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: don't have the same opportunities. There's a whole lot of
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: structural stuff around that we don't need to go into that,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: but it's definitely a risk factor. They also found that
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: early social adversity was another predictor of crime, but one
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: of the big predictors was daytime drowsiness. And what they're
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: basically saying is if your kids are really really tired
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: when they're at school, they're daytime drowsy, they end up
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: being inattentive their brains tend not to function as well,
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: they tend to exercise less self control, and fourteen years
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: later they're actually more likely to be involved in serious crime.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Is that because?
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, maybe there's other outcomes from this, But is
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: it because of their learning in the formative years to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: be that and therefore as adults, that's what they tend
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: What's the cause?
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: How does drowsiness during the daytime connect with adult crime?
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: Well, I think what we're actually looking at here, if
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: we were to link a chain, what we're saying is
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: daytime drowsiness is associated with poor attention.
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: That makes sense.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: So it's not the drowsiness that's quote unquote causing crime. Rather,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: daytime drowsiness is setting off a sequence of events.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: If you're drowsy in the.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Daytime, you end up being inattentive at school. Poor attention
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: can be used as a proxy for poor brain function.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: You know, you're not utilizing your brain, you're not thinking
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: things through, you're not exercising self control. And if you've
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: got a lack of self control and poor brain functioning,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: you're at greater risk of making decisions that are dumb.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So being maybe easily led.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Or being easily led as another great example of just
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: not paying attention to what's around and thinking through the
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: consequences of what you might do that. The take home
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: message is pretty simple. We need our kids to be
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: well rested. Sleep maybe one of the most How do
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: I say it, It's not a luxury item. You know
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: what you're like as an adult when you don't get
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: enough sleep. You wake up the next day you need
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: three barockas. You've got a headache all day. You're grumpy
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: and irritable.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: You're not me, I'm roses, I'm smiling.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Absolutely made.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Even when you work from home, you stub your tough on,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: toe on someone's lego and carry on. It doesn't when
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: we're tired, It doesn't predict good outcomes. Now, if you
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: have chronic tiredness because you're up every night gaming or
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: on social media or whatever it is that the.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: Teenagers are doing.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: When they say they're studying and you're getting four, five
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: six hours of sleep instead of the nine or ten
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: that they need nine and a half ish, then that's
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: going to lead to much worse outcomes. Simple, get the
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: kids to bed at a reasonable hour, get them up
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: at a reasonable hour so that you're in a good cycle,
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: and you'll usually find what's reasonable. Well, every family's different.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: I want to be careful with what I say, Luke.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get a more detailed description to that answer. Shortly,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: it's the Happy Families podcast with doctor Justin Colson talking
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: about the potential consequences of teens not getting enough sleep.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: More Shortly, family life is pretty tough going. Sometimes most
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: days are a struggle between strong willed children and frazzled parents.
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: And while no parent wakes up in the morning saying
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: today's the day I'm going to ruin everyone's lives, it's
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: sometimes feels like that by the end of the day.
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: Twenty one Days to a Happier Family is the number
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: one parenting book by doctor Justin Coulson for parents who
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: want their kids to be better, themselves, to be calmer,
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: and their family to be happier. Now. The book is
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: also available as an online video course. In the program,
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: you'll find specific strategies to help you be at your best,
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: evidence based ideas to strengthen your relationship with your children,
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: research proven practices to improve understanding between you and your child,
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: Discipline strategies that work because they're about discipline and not punishment,
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: and more tips to make your family happier. And as
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: a special offer only for podcast business, use the Code
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: podcast at check out for a massive fifty dollars saving
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: twenty one days to a happier family. The online video
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: course by doctor Justin Coulson Get it now from Happy
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: Families dot com dot au.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Family's podcast with doctor Justin Coulson talking
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: about some recent research that showed the potential outcomes of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: what happens when our teens do not get enough sleep.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: It could lead to criminal activity in their adult life,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Doctor Justin, But what is a reasonable amount of sleep?
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: I try to get my kids to be in bed,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: the older ones late teens, by about nine thirty or ten,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: and the younger ones by about nine eight thirty or nine.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Some people think that's crazy, But let me tell you.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: I get them up at around about five thirty or six.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: Some people say, how do you get your teenagers out
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: of bed at five thirty or six?
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: Well, that's easy. I put them to bed at about
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: nine o'clock. How do you do that? Easy? I get
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: them up at five thirty.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Here's a cycle.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've actually pre teens are going to be interested
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: to see how tyson who's seven gets to that point
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: because he is.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Just naturally gets up. But gosh, yeah, four or five.
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: That'll change though.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Once Here's what happens. This is something that people don't
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: understand a lot about teenagers. We have this hormone in
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: our body called melatonin. Melotonin is the sleepy hormone.
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: If you can't get.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: To sleep, often a GP will prescribe some melotonin too
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: you so that your body produces it a little bit
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: more melotonin and you feel drowsy and you're not off.
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: That's what we need. We need melotonin.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: In adults and in children, we start producing that melotonin
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: around about the time the sun goes down. In adolescence,
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: they seem to produce it approximately two hours later. So
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: you know, when it's eight thirty and you're going to
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: say to the kids, would you just go to sleep?
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: I can't keep my eyes open because you know, once
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: you get past about thirty five, eight thirty is a
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: late night.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: It's a big night.
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: If you're still going at ninety th that's it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: And so the teenagers, you know, we're saying that to
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: them at eight thirty because we're exhausted, but the melatonin
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: production is barely kicking in for them.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: They've got another good couple of hours to go.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: You combine that with the excitatory stimulation of a screen
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: and all the bings and buzzes and pops and whistles
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: and the messages and the notifications and the game and
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: whatever else, and their brain is on high alert. Their
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: body's already not producing enough melatonin in anyway, and they're like,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: I got hours in me.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not going to see yet. So we need
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: to actually be cognizant of that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: But encourage them, you know, dim the lights, get the
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: screens off, get them to bed early.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So am I if I'm picking up what you're putting down,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you're saying drug your teens with melotonin.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: I'm not that kind of.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I'm just wondering what kind of screens your kids are
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: listening looking at that have bings, pops and whistles. But
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: it's good to know and good to be aware of
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: if you're in the middle of the teenage years, to
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: know there's something you can do if you're approaching them,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to start preparing and thinking about how the family life
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: style will work to ensure that teens can get enough sleep.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: And when you fight with them over bedtime, you can
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: just say, look, I'm saving you from a life of crime.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Like your foreign house is more likely to not connect crime.
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Go to sleep right now.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: That's right, because if there's something teens connect with, its.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Facts, decisions that impact the future, that's right.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right, Doctor Dustinkilson, thank you so much for
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: We really appreciate it.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: And if you want some more information, any and all
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: of Justin's resources are available books, podcast programs at Happy
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Families dot com dot au. Or if you want to
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: find out how you can have Justin come and speak
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: at your school or organization about this or any number
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of topics relating to the wellbeing of your whole family,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: go to Justinculson dot com