Introduction: Adolescence being a crucial and evolving phase of human life is subject to several unique intrinsic and extrinsic stressors contributing to an unstructured and inadequate sleep/wake routine.
Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional study in 314 school going adolescents aged 13-15 years, grade VIII and IX. Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire(CASQ) in addition to information regarding hours of sleep obtained were obtained in conjunction with information from school administration.
Results: Twenty five present of adolescents reported falling asleep in class in the morning with 32% feeling sleepy, 15% fell asleep on the ride to and from school and 25% felt sleepy while doing their school assignments at home. Median scores of sleepiness statements, alertness statements and total scores on the CASQ were as follows, 22,13 and 36. Age of the children positively correlated for sleepiness and total scores (r=0.257, p<0.001). No gender differences were noted in these scores or hours of sleep obtained. Sleepiness statement score was higher in children who obtained 4 to 6 hours of sleep (24.8% of the sample) than the group that obtained 6 to 8 hours of sleep(59.3% of the sample) with a p value<0.05.
Conclusion: Indian adolescents like their global counterparts also have excessive daytime somnolence and sleep debt which is largely unrecognized. Intervention with education in conjunction with school authorities and families is the need of the hour.