Nighttime Smartphone Use and Chronic Insufficient Sleep in an Adolescent: A Case-Based Approach to Behavioral Sleep Restriction, Circadian Delay, and Comorbidity

How do I assess whether poor sleep is worsening an adolescent's coexisting anxiety or depression?

In an adolescent with coexisting anxiety/depression and poor sleep, assess whether sleep is worsening mood by establishing temporal linkage, daytime impairment, and change after sleep improvement/worsening. In adolescents, sleep disturbance is common, often bidirectional with anxiety/depression, and may precede or ampl

How does untreated ADHD complicate management of an adolescent presenting with chronic insufficient sleep?

Untreated ADHD can make an adolescent with chronic insufficient sleep harder to assess and manage because the relationship is bidirectional: ADHD symptoms can worsen sleep timing, sleep initiation, and bedtime adherence, while insufficient sleep further worsens inattention, impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, daytime

What practical device-use boundaries can I recommend that families are realistically able to sustain?

Assuming you want general, clinician-facing counseling advice for families with children/adolescents, the most sustainable boundaries are the ones that are simple, visible, and routine-based, not minute-by-minute rules. Philippine Pediatric Society mental health materials specifically highlight technology-free family m

What sleep duration should I target when advising families of a sleepy secondary school student?

Target 8–10 hours/night for most secondary school students (adolescents, roughly 13–18 years). For a sleepy student, routinely getting <8 hours should be treated as inadequate until proven otherwise. - Adolescents/secondary school students: 8–10 hours per 24 hours is the practical target for counselling families in the

Which daytime signs suggest an adolescent's sleepiness needs medical evaluation rather than routine advice?

Assuming an adolescent without an obvious acute illness, daytime sleepiness needs medical evaluation rather than just routine sleep-hygiene advice when there is functional impairment, safety risk, or clues to an underlying sleep/medical/psychiatric disorder. In children and adolescents, daytime sleepiness is a recogniz