Caffeine-drinking teens lack sleep

PHILADELPHIA, July 25 (UPI) -- Teenagers who Web surf, text message and consume caffeine at night are more likely to fall asleep during the day, researchers in Pennsylvania said.

Philadelphia's Drexel College of Nursing studied adolescents who used multiple forms of technology late into the night while drinking caffeinated beverages, lead author Dr. Christina Calamaro said in a release Friday.

Of the 100 students ages 12 to 18 studied, 66 percent had a television in their bedroom, 30 percent a computer, 90 percent a cell phone and 79 percent an MP3 digital audio player, Calamaro's team wrote in the journal Pediatrics.

Eighty percent of the teens reported getting less than 8 hours of sleep on a school night, while at least 30 percent reported falling asleep at school. Those who fell asleep at school on average had a caffeine consumption 76-percent higher than those who reported staying awake, she said.

"Even though we know adolescents are on a different time schedule than adults, we still need to get them less wired at night," Calamaro said.