Sleep tight
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Do you love to stay up late? Do you have trouble getting up in the morning? n2k finds out why sleep is so important during your teenage years and has some tips for getting all the zzzs you need.
Snooze and grow
When teenagers sleep they are actually releasing a hormone that is essential for their growth spurt. In fact teenagers should have more sleep than adults or children. Experts recommend that teenagers get about 9 or more hours of shut eye each night, but studies show that most, in reality, may only get a little over 7 hours of sleep each night.
Bad habits
Many teenagers get into bad habits of watching DVDs or playing games before bed time, this keeps the brain stimulated and makes it difficult to wind down. This is because when the brain and body are stimulated it produces less of the hormones that help people fall asleep, a hormone called ‘melatonin’.
In most adults melatonin is produced around 10pm, but keeping the mind stimulated can cause melatonin to be produced much later. A recent study showed that most teenagers only begin to produce melatonin at 1am! It seems teenagers are often kept awake by their own bodies.
Weekend kip
Do you use the weekends to catch up on your sleep but then feel really out of it on a Monday morning?
Recent research has shown that this is due to teenagers sleeping more over the weekend and resetting their internal body clock. This means that when the alarm goes for school on a Monday the body is not ready for it.
The research carried out in American also showed that weekend "catch up" sleep makes teens less attentive on Monday morning.
Although it might be easier said than done, the research also concluded that teenagers should get a full night's sleep every night and get up at the roughly the same time every morning, even if they stay up late on Friday and Saturday night.
Good snoozing
Lack of sleep can lead to feeling moody or even depressed. So how do you make sure that you get enough sleep?
- Say no to caffeine at night! Get your fix ealier in the day - caffeine is a stimulant and will keep you awake.
- Don’t eat late - when you eat your body has to work to digest to eat food.
- Don’t watch TV in bed - your mind will still be too stimulated to sleep.
- Forget the day’s worries. If you do something like have a bath before bed every night, your body will soon get used to it and start to feel sleepy every time you have a bath.
- Exercise to get rid of any left-over energy from the day that might keep you awake. Around half and hour of exercise a day should be enough to do the trick.
- Go to bed at a similar time every night, your body will soon get used to it and will know when it's time to start winding down.
Late nights
If you do have late nights try to follow some simple tips to get your body clock back in synch
- Don't sleep loads the next day to compensate, it'll drive your body clock nuts.
- The next morning, get up no more than an hour later than you usually would
- Have a power nap in the middle of the afternoon- about half an hour should do it- and then go to bed at your regular time.
- The next day, get up at your usual time and you should be back on track.
