Is Your Teenager Getting Enough Sleep?
By: Alexa Algios, PysD
We are constantly hearing about how important sleep is. It not only impacts our physical health, but our mental health as well. However, getting enough sleep can sometimes feel like an impossible task, particularly for teenagers. While adolescents need about 8-10 hours of sleep per night, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey approximately 69% of high schoolers report getting less than 8 hours of sleep a night.
There are several factors that contribute to teenagers not getting enough sleep. One reason for this is changes to the body’s circadian rhythm that happen during adolescence. This change causes teens to naturally want to fall asleep later and in turn wake up later. However, with early start times for school and long commutes for New York City high school students, waking up later is usually not possible. Furthermore, with the amount of time taken up with homework, after school obligations, and socializing, getting to bed earlier is also a challenging task. There is also a wide range of mental health problems that can impact sleep, such as depression, anxiety, mood disorders, stress, and trauma.
Difficulties falling asleep and getting enough sleep can be extremely frustrating, especially when it feels out of our control. However, improving our sleep hygiene by implementing healthy sleep habits is a good place to start.
Some sleep hygiene tips include:
Keeping a consistent sleep schedule: Going to bed and waking up around the same time each day (including weekends).
Creating bedtime routines: This can include engaging in a relaxing activity, such as reading a book, coloring, listening to music, or meditating.
Maintain healthy habits throughout the day: Exercising, eating healthy, and avoiding caffeine in the afternoon and evening.
Only using your bed for sleep: Avoid engaging in other activities while in bed, such as homework and playing video games. We want to associate our bed with sleeping, not other mentally stimulating activities.
If you are having a hard time falling asleep, get out of bed: Engage in a relaxing and quiet activity in a low light environment. Try to engage in something boring rather than something that will keep your interest.
Avoid electronics before bed: Our phones, tablets, and computers generate blue light which decreases melatonin production (this is a sleep hormone that our body produces to signal it is time to sleep). Electronics can also cause mental stimulation which does not help when we are trying to fall asleep.
Limit naps: If you do need to nap, make sure to keep them short (15-20 minutes) and limit them to the early afternoon.
Make sure your sleeping environment is physically comfortable: This can include making sure the room is dark, using a white noise machine, and keeping your room at a comfortable temperature.
References:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, May 2). Sleep and sleep disorders: Data and statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/data_statistics.html
Gupta, R. C. (2014, August). Common sleep problems. Nemours KidsHealth. https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/sleep.html
Sunl, E, & Vyas, N. (2020, August 14). Sleep hygiene. Sleep foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene
