Does your teenager get enough sleep?
Teens need more sleep. That can’t be any truer.
I remember in high school, I wouldn’t go to sleep until around 1 a.m., then would have to get up for school at 6:45 a.m. I’m still in awe at how I managed to keep that routine every school day. I would catch up on sleep on the weekends, oftentimes not getting up until 12-1 p.m. (Sleeping patterns don’t really improve in college.)
You probably know what I’m going to say next.
Not getting enough sleep, then making up for the lack of sleep on the weekends, is what Dr. Jonathan Pletcher, an adolescent medicine specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, advises AGAINST.
“You can take virtually any problem with teens, and a lack of sleep will make it worse,” says Dr. Pletcher.
Being well-rested is extremely important, because it can cause kids to miss school, headaches, and poorer performance in school.
According to researchers, only 7.6% of teens go enough sleep, which is at least 9 hours a night.
Although not getting enough sleep can be a hard habit to break, especially with everything that teens have to do (school, homework, friends, other activities), you can help them by considering these steps…
- Recognize that a lack of sleep is a serious problem
- Usage of electronics right before bedtime can deprive your teens of sleep
- Establish a consistent sleep pattern for your kids
- Sleep before 10 p.m. on weeknights (although most teens will tell you that this is impossible)
- Exercise done a few hours before going to sleep can help make them tired (stretching will do)
- Leave the sleep medicine alone
How do you fasciliate your teens’ sleeping patterns? Is there a set bedtime that you enforce? Do you notice that your kids behave differently when they lack sleep?
Two-Thirds Of American Teens Need More Shut-Eye [Health]
