Sleep & Teens
How often as a parent do you find yourself having to almost use a crowbar to get your teenage child up in the mornings, and a general anesthetic to get them into bed at night!!!!!!!!!
Teens actually need more sleep than children a couple of years younger than them; about 9 hours a night. The internal “body clock” of younger children usually makes them start to feel sleepy at around 8pm; however the difficulty is that once they hit puberty, they may not start to feel ready for bed until 11pm or later. Getting their 9 hours sleep then doesn’t always fit with getting up for school or other commitments early in the morning
What happens during sleep?
· We need regular sleep because our bodies need to rest after the day's activities.
· Our minds need to relax and rest.
· Our bodies need to work on repairing, replacing and growing new cells.
So, your teenager needs to work out what time they have to get up to be able to get to school or work on time, and then take 9 hours off. That's what ideally they need to have as their regular bedtime!
Can you catch up on sleep?
The short answer is "Maybe". If a teen has a late night then sleeping in the next day may help then recover.
But, having an extra long sleep-in at the weekend doesn't really help catch on sleep missed during the week. And changing the regular week day sleeping pattern to a different one on the weekend can make it harder to get to sleep at the right time during the week and harder still to get up.
If they go to bed very early to try and catch up on sleep then your teenager could find themselves awake in the middle of the night with an out of whack body clock for several days.
So, it’s best for them to aim for a regular sleep pattern to keep rested and alert when they need to be like during lessons, work or exam time.
Getting to sleep and waking up
Here are some ideas to help your teenager get the best sleep they possibly can.
· Organize your life so that you have a regular schedule of school, work exercise and relaxing so that you get to sleep about the same time most nights.
· Switch off TV, loud music, computers and mobile phones half an hour before your sleep time so that you can get into your bedtime routine. Lots of people find that a routine of reading for 15 minutes or so can help them relax off to sleep.
· Turn lights off before you go to sleep.
· Maybe leave the curtains open a bit so the daylight wakes you up in the morning. Switch on a bright light to wake you up on those dark winter mornings.
· Use a radio alarm clock properly. Use the snooze button to send you off to sleep with quiet relaxing music. Change to a loud energetic station when you wake up in the morning.
· Keep your room tidy so that you feel calm and not distracted - at least your mum will be calmer, then you will not be feeling hassled!
· Have a shower before bedtime to relax you – though some people need a shower in the morning to wake them up – work out what suits you and your family best.
· Don't have drinks with caffeine in them after 6 at night (some people find it best if they don't have these drinks after lunch time). Caffeine is in coffee, regular tea, cola and other soft drinks, and it will keep you awake.
· Don't have long sleeps during the day. Of course you may feel tired after sport or a long hard day at school or work. A short 'power nap' of 30 minutes will revive you but a longer nap may upset those circadian rhythms.
Sleep is a really important part of keeping healthy. Regular exercise and a healthy diet can help you to feel relaxed and ready to sleep at night and alert and ready for anything during the day.
Information sourced from the Women’s and Children Health Network, Teen Health site. http://www.cyh.com/SubDefault.aspx?p=159