Regulation of sleep and arousal: comments on part VII

This paper links the papers in this session and describes briefly how together they represent an ideal example of the kind of trans-disciplinary approach to understanding aspects of adolescent maturation that can have major clinical and social policy implications. The issues of adolescent sleep needs, circadian changes linked to pubertal maturation, the effects of sleep deprivation on adolescent health and behavior, and social controversies such as delaying the start times of high schools to address the problems of adolescent sleep deprivation all point to the need for additional empirical studies. This will require studies of normal human development as well as animal models to investigate the mechanisms underpinning these developmental changes in sleep and circadian regulation.