Sometimes I feel like the cobbler with shoeless children: I specialize in sleep disorders, but my son and daughter often don't get enough sleep (at least by my standards).

For many teenagers and young adults, the end of summer vacation and a return to a regular school schedule can be a difficult transition. Adolescents have a natural biological tendency to experience a delay in the timing of their sleep-wake cycle, so that shifting to an earlier bedtime can feel like an uphill battle.

Like very many others, my children find it very easy to stay up late during summer vacation, a fact usually connected with an assortment of entertainment and communication electronics. Although they are not up all night or sleeping all day, they are following a sleep-wake cycle that is a few hours later than what would be ideal when school starts.

Part of the problem is that school classes now begin way too early in most school districts around the country. A 6:45 a.m. school-bus pickup time, for example, requires a wake-up time of about 6:00 a.m.. Eight to nine hours of sleep is optimum for most teenagers, but I don't think they'll be falling asleep by 9 or 10 p.m. right away. The result, of course, is insufficient sleep, and that can lead to inattention during the school hours, which is pretty bad for learning.

I hear people say that they'll "sleep when they die," suggesting that they don't care if they are getting enough sleep. They think that sleep is a waste of time and that they should be able to work or play during more of the 24 hours in a day. However, there are serious consequences associated with insufficient sleep.

The most common problems for sleep-deprived students are poor concentration, memory, and performance. And tragically, although teens are famous for feeling immortal, they sometimes prove that they're all too mortal in sleep-loss-related driving accidents.

Adequate sleep represents an important investment in having a better waking life. Although going to bed earlier might seem to entail a real compromise, I believe that we all need to value the importance of regularly getting sufficient sleep. My kids will need to give up the electronics earlier and resist those distractions that delay getting to bed.

I'll always argue that people feel better and perform better if they get enough sleep. Improved school performance can be one of the benefits.