Is Your Teenager Getting Enough Sleep? – The Importance of Teenage Sleep

With so many gadgets to play with and use and with so many parties to attend who would want to sleep? With so many distractions today, people—especially the younger ones or the teenagers—are having a hard time getting sufficient sleep. However lack of sleep can affect our day to day activities and our health. Many teens perform poorly in school mainly because they lack sufficient sleep to maintain concentration and focus.

All about teenage sleep

If you are one of those parents whose teens are not getting the right amount of sleep, here are some tips that you can share to them which may help.

1. Educate them about caffeine and how it affects sleep. When you do the grocery shopping, you can control the foods and drinks that contain caffeine that comes into the house such as coffee, chocolates, sodas, teas and particularly energy drinks. These energy drinks are particularly bad as they are marketed to teenagers and contain huge amounts of caffeine. It’s impossible to control what they consume when they’re out and about so it’s particularly important that they understand the harmful effects of caffeine and how it can affect their sleep and their general health.

2. Tell them not to resort to alcohol as a “sleeping aid”. Many people believe that alcohol can help them sleep, but alcohol has an awakening effect on the body a few hours after it is consumed. Teenagers in particular have a low tolerance for alcohol and this awakening effect can be increased. Besides preventing us from experiencing quality sleep, Alcohol can negatively impact out health and even our appearance as too much of it can cause our skin to dry out.

3. Teach your teenager how to relax before going to bed. You can do this by spending time with the teen and talk about how he or she should handle the everyday stress either in school, at home or caused simply by growing up. If your teen is able to talk about these things before bedtime, he or she will have a better chance of peaceful sleep without the day to day worries. You can also ask her or him to do calming activities such as reading a book or practicing yoga which are both relaxing habits.

4. Encourage them to have regular exercise. Exercise helps people of all ages to get better sleep at night. Educate your teen on how getting enough exercise can prevent teenage insomnia and also improve their health. To make it more effective, join your teenager in doing regular exercises such as light jogging or brisk walking. If he or she sees that you are “walking your talk” there is greater chances for him or her to follow your example.

5. Have a curfew for watching television or for surfing the internet. For a teen to get better sleep, don’t let them have a TV or computer in their bedroom. You can monitor their activities much better if those gadgets are in the living area of your home. You may have to watch their cell phone as well since these can also be connected to the internet nowadays.

Telling teenagers what to do is not easy, but lack of sleep can lead to poor school results and health issues such as depression.  Teenage sleep requirements are at least 8 ½ hours sleep per night so they need you to keep on their back to ensure they get it!

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