Teens & Sleep

Teens seem to never get enough sleep. Teens say it’s because school starts too early and parents say it’s because teens go to sleep too late. Well science says they’re both right.

The Early Birds

Teens need more sleep than children and adults, it’s a proven fact. The problem is teens bodies are wired to stay up later than children and adults. It’s not because of their “rebellious” nature as some parents like to say, it’s because of their hormonal balances.

A recent study found in an article by Gisele Glosser “biological changes that take place in puberty keep kids from being able to fall asleep as early as when they were younger”.

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Teens just can’t fall asleep too early and to some nine o’clock is way too early. However, in order for the average teen to wake up at 6 a.m. and still manage to receive the doctor recommended 8-9 hours of sleep a night they’d need to go to bed somewhere around 8-9 p.m. But the pattern in which teens brains are wired makes this virtually impossible. Teens are wired to fall into the dream state later than they should.

There are plenty of ways teens can keep themselves from becoming sleep deprived. Here are some tips:

○       Set a bedtime. No matter how lame it sounds having a set bedtime (around 10pm) can cause for you to be more alert in the mornings.

○       Avoid caffeine after noon. Caffeine too late can cause for you to have trouble falling asleep.

○       Turn off the TV before you go to bed. Some people say TV helps them fall asleep, but the noise and bright lights cause you to wake up in the middle of the night.

○       Don’t go to sleep more then two hours past your usual time on the weekends. Doing this could cause your sleep patterns to be thrown completely “out-of-wack”

○       Don’t take long naps. A 30 minute nap after school refreshes you, but still allows your body to fall asleep at night.