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When 9 pm dinners clash with 7 am work: How urban lifestyles are dragging you and your kids into a dangerous health crisis
What was once brushed off as an adult complaint is now becoming a teenage crisis: sleepless nights, foggy mornings, and exhausted days.
Anand, an 18-year-old computer science student, recalls how his days began with fatigue rather than energy. Tossing and turning until sunrise, he would finally drift off at 5 or 6 am, only to miss his 9 am classes. His memory dulled, assignments piled up, and grades suffered. 'I'd be wide awake when I needed to be sleeping, and then utterly exhausted when I had to be alert and learning. It felt like I was fighting my own body,' Anand told TOI. He was later diagnosed with
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
(DSPS), a disorder that disrupts the body's internal clock.
Urban Lifestyle Fuelling Disorders
According to Dr Garima Shukla, professor of neurology at Queen's University, Canada, formerly at AIIMS Delhi, 'Urban lifestyles are a perfect storm for sleep diorders. There is late-night device use, academic demands, and irregular meal timings, often dinners as late as 9 or 10 pm, that disrupt natural sleep cycles, unlike the West where meals are eaten between 5 and 7pm, aiding better sleep,' she told TOI. Youngsters also indulge in late-night snacking while studying or scrolling through their phones, further delaying sleep.
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Dr Shaunak Ajinkya, consultant psychiatrist at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, recalled to TOI how one of his patients, 16-year-old Sabira, slept 12–13 hours a day yet woke up exhausted. Once a top student and guitarist, she withdrew from school and friends. After tests, including overnight polysomnography, she was diagnosed with mild depression and a circadian rhythm disorder. 'Her internal clock was misaligned with the environment outside, causing her body to want sleep at odd times and making it hard to feel truly rested,' he said.
To reset her sleep cycle, Sabira was prescribed melatonin, a strict bedtime routine, and early exposure to sunlight. Her nights now involve no screens, no caffeine, and a calming wind-down ritual, as reported in TOI.
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Pressure of Early Classes
A 2021 Kochi-based study in the International Journal of Contemporary Paediatrics reported a 5.7% prevalence of DSPS among adolescents. Another, by Verma et al. in 2002, highlighted how India's late-night studying habits combined with early school timings worsen the problem. Neurophysiologist Dr Hrudananda Mallick told TOI that shifting school start times could help. 'School timings force kids to wake early, cutting sleep short. In metros, shifting school start times, as done in California, could help,' he said.
Japan has been experimenting too. Sunao Uchida, a physician with the Japanese Society of Sleep Research, described in TOI how an elementary school tested naptimes combined with maths lessons over seven months, showing improved focus.
Beyond Teens: Even Toddlers Struggle
The crisis is not confined to teenagers. Paediatric obesity has been linked to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Dr Siddhant Lalwani, paediatric pulmonologist at Bharati Hospital, Pune, told TOI about a six-year-old boy whose oxygen levels dropped dangerously low at night due to OSA. 'He now sleeps well with the help of a CPAP machine, which we're increasingly using even in infants,' he said. Poor sleep, he warned, is linked to long-term risks like hypertension, metabolic disorders, and weak academic performance.
Dr Shambhavi Joshi from Bharati Hospital's department of sleep medicine added: 'From toddlers to college students, hormonal shifts and lifestyle choices like staying up until 4 or 5 am wreak havoc on sleep cycles,' as quoted by TOI.
Post-Covid, ENT surgeon Dr Sandeep Karmarkar at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, reported a sharp rise in sleep-related breathing issues among children due to enlarged adenoids. 'Cases have surged in the last four to five years, especially among kids aged five to eight. I recently treated a four-year-old who had never breathed properly through his nose. Timely surgery transformed his life in just two weeks,' he told TOI.
Blue Light and Digital Burnout
Experts also blame blue light from screens for disrupted sleep. 'It delays circadian rhythms, especially in kids and teens who ideally need 9–11 hours of sleep for growth,' Dr Mallick told TOI. Research shows that just four consecutive nights of five-hour sleep can impair performance similar to alcohol intoxication.
Dr Ajinkya observed in TOI that post-Covid sleep complaints among youth have surged by 30%, with one in five reporting insomnia or sleep anxiety. 'Digital learning, stress, and less physical activity are key drivers,' he said.
Inputs from TOI
