Are Your Teenagers Getting Enough Sleep?

As a parent of a school-aged child myself, I often wonder if my child is getting enough sleep, especially when she can be tetchy and hard to wake up in a morning. You wouldn’t believe this was the same child who was bright and breezy after ten-thirty last night. In many respects, I feel sorry for school children today. For starters, they have more homework than I had, and they seem to work harder than I remember I needed to when I was school age.

I came across a study which says that children may not be getting enough sleep. As I said, I might agree with regards to my daughter. Elementary school-age kids need 10 to 11 hours of sleep, and kids aged 10 to 17 need 8.5 to 9.25 hours daily.

But how much sleep are children getting?

The correct amount of sleep is important for children, and if they don’t sleep enough, it can impact them in these ways. For one, they tend not to do so well at school.

“They tend to have more behavior problems. Kids who don’t rest well are at risk for obesity, frequent illness, and autoimmune problems, too.”

It might not be the kid’s fault they are short of sleep, and some factors which impact their sleep are medicines, sleep apnoea, illness, snoring, in short, the same factors that affect adults too. Anyone with teenage children knows that typically they come to life at night and prefer to sleep during the day. Often parents can help their children with sleep problems by taking some common sense practical steps at home. For example, putting children to bed at the same time every night, controlling caffeine intake, avoiding late-night television, and so on.

Teenagers and Sleep – Teenage Sleep Tips

If you are a teen or the parent of one, here are some easy teenage sleep tips:

Pick a bedtime and stick with it.

If you go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time in the morning, your body will start to get used to it. Even on the weekends, try to go to sleep within an hour of bedtime and don’t sleep in for more than an hour or two.

Get a sleep-time routine.

About 60 to 90 minutes before bedtime every night, turn off the lights and commence to relax. Change into your pajamas. If you shower or take a bath at night, do it now. If you use the same routine to unwind every night, your brain will start to figure out what these things mean bedtime is coming. During this time, stop texting and turn off the computer, cell phone, and TV. All those devices can get your mind weaved up again.

Skip the soda.

Plan your study time earlier in the evening, so you don‘t have to pull too many late-nighters. Using caffeinated beverages like soda or coffee too close to bedtime will keep you wide awake for hours, but your productivity and ability to concentrate the next day will suffer. The students and researchers from California, Berkeley University observed that tending an all-nighter during finals or midterms lowers the brain’s capability to read new things by approximately 40%. Sleep deprivation shuts down some regions of brain functioning. Rule of thumb: don‘t procrastinate on your studies, and don’t drink anything with caffeine after 4 p.m.

Create the perfect bedroom for sleeping.

Most people sleep adequately in a cool, darkroom. Shut the blinds and curtains and, if you can control the thermostat in your room, lower it slightly – or turn on your fan. If you’re chilled at the beginning, pile on the blankets until you get relaxed. Keep the TV off! Excess noise can put you away from getting the best sleep. If you need noise to sleep (my mom needs), stick with light, soothing music.

Do your kids have enough sleep? With just a few simple changes, you or your teen can get good night’s sleep in no time! Leave a comment if any of this resonates with you.