When you think of teen’s, it’s usually about staying up until 1am and sleeping in for hour on end. But why is it that teens have a hard time falling asleep, and subsequently getting up in the morning? In this installment of The Sleep Sessions, we talk all things teen sleep with Sleep Consultant Samantha Sadighi of Easy Sleep Solutions.
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Ahh, teenagers and teen sleep. So, the pendulum has swung, and rather than a baby who won’t sleep, you now find yourself with a teenager on your hands who wants to do nothing BUT sleep and will happily while away hours at the weekend in bed rather than getting up and doing the things you think they should be doing! How frustrating!
But, what if I told you it’s not necessarily their fault? Yes, lots of teens like to stay up late on video games or other electronic devices, but what if that was actually just a way of killing time because they’re genuinely just not tired enough to fall asleep yet? In many cases, this is exactly what’s happening when teen sleep is concerned.
The sleep shift
I’ve talked in earlier blogs in the series about our circadian rhythm (or natural body clock). With many teens though, their circadian rhythm shifts slightly so they are genuinely not ready to sleep until a lot later than even their parents.
It’s been suggested that this could be an evolutionary process. Allowing adolescents that time to start asserting their independence and restrict their dependence on their parents while Mum and Dad (and younger siblings) are snoozing.
It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about the time (way back when) when we used to live in caves – it meant that there was pretty much someone awake at all times keeping an eye on the family.
Fast forward a few thousand years though, and this process probably isn’t quite as beneficial. Especially when you consider that teens still have to get up and function in time for school 5 days a week for the majority of the year. However, we can’t fight our biology.
Of course, if our youngsters aren’t getting to sleep until the early hours and then having to awake at 7 am for school, their sleep time is likely to be well below the recommended 8 – 10 hours sleep they need to be able to function well. And without enough REM/Dream Sleep and Deep Sleep the chances of them retaining the information they’re learning at school is significantly reduced. The same goes for recalling the information when they need it most, like in an exam.
Teen sleep: what can you do to help?
So what can you do to help? Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia and bright light treatment are two ways you can help combat it. But actually, there can be some simple tweaks you can try at home before reaching out to someone like myself for help and advice.
These include:
- A parent set bedtime (although this would probably need to be a collaborative process – finding a middle ground between your desired times).
- Encourage good sleep hygiene, which includes; thinking about how much caffeine and alcohol they’re having (if appropriate) and when they’re having it, what is their bedroom environment like (is their bed comfortable? Is it dark and quiet throughout the night?), do they resort to having naps or lying it until lunchtime at weekends to try to catch up on sleep, as well as thinking about what they’re doing just before bed – how stimulating are the activities that they’re doing? I’ll talk more about sleep hygiene next time in relation to adults too.
- Even though they’re tired, trying to encourage them to get up at the same time every day (including at weekends) can also really help reset their body clock.
- Make sure that they are being active. Of course, when we’re tired, often the last thing we want to do is get out and do something that’s only going to make us more exhausted, but it could well pay off in the long run. Counter intuitively, exercise can raise your energy levels and gives you a rush of endoprhins which can improve your mood. When you’ve more energy and are feeling happier, you’re then more likely to be more efficient and effective in what you need to do.
But, it can’t just be their circadian rhythm that’s throwing their sleep off, can it? Well, no, not always. Teens, like all of us these days, have lots to worry about (probably even more than we often give them credit for too). It could be boy/girl trouble, stress to do with school or college, home life, friends, what they’re going to do with their lives or a million other things that can be playing on their minds. But these worries about the past or the future can most definitely be a contributing factor to their desire not to go to bed too early. Because, after all, who wants to lie there worrying about stuff?
Worries and teen sleep
Lack of sleep (specifically insomnia) can increase our chances of feeling anxious (regardless of our age). There’s also evidence to suggest that teens who don’t sleep well are more likely to suffer with depression at some point too.
So as a parent, what can you do to help? Well, it probably sounds obvious, but trying to ensure you have the kind of relationship with your kids where they feel they can confide in you is a great start, so they’re not worrying alone. Sometimes their fears or concerns may seem trivial to you (for example a bust up with a friend in the playground compared to you facing uncertainty with your job etc). But, regardless of how you feel about it, it’s really important to listen to them and understand that it is a big deal to them.
Encouraging them to think about whatever’s worrying them earlier in the day can really help too, rather than damping it down and only really worrying about things at night when they’re tired with less stimulation, which can make things seem a thousand times worse. Also when they do take that time to think about it (whether it’s writing down a list of pros and cons or different ways of dealing with a situation or talking it through with someone they trust), try not to let them do it in the bedroom, as this can continue to strengthen the association of those concerns following them into their sleeping environment.
The big take home message on teen sleep? If you can, try to cut them some slack! They’re still trying to figure life out and have the added ‘fun’ of surges of hormones that they might not quite have got to grips with yet.
Catch up on all previous installments of Sleep Sessions below:
Children & school aged children sleep
Cover pic: People photo created by yanalya – www.freepik.com
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