Navigating bedtime with teenagers is a constant, modest nightly battle in many homes. Get off your mobile phone! sleep!
Research shows that today’s teenagers are sleep-deprived more than ever. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adolescents need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. But since almost 80% of American teenagers don’t get it, experts say it has an impact on key areas such as mental health and attendance at school.
Toddlers aren’t the only bedtime routine. Teens need them too, says Dennis Pope, a child development expert and a senior lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
Adolescent sleep experts say some small changes to the way parents and teens get closer to sleep can make a dramatic difference.
Try our tech-free bedtime routine for teens
The first step to setting up a better bedtime routine is to work with technology.
– Separate the child from the device at night. While phones, tablets, streaming services and video games aren’t the only things to keep kids at night, experts agree that they are the main factors that slow sleep.
“Take the temptation out of your bedroom,” says the Pope. If the phone is within arm range, it is difficult to ignore when notifications buzz. Many teens say they fall asleep while scrolling or reach for the phone if they have trouble sleeping and scroll for hours.
– Be prepared for excuses. “My phone is my alarm clock” is something many parents hear. Solution: Buy an alarm clock.
This article is part of the AP’s proper coverage focused on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. read more.
– Clean up the screen an hour before bedtime. Exposure to light prevents the release of melatonin, a hormone released by the brain, causing you to feel sleepy.
Next, replace the screen with a routine that has fallen into a new wind.
– Go to bed at the same time each night and start rolling up at least 30 minutes before. Meanwhile, notices of silence should take a warm shower and read the book. Try online to find out what your teen should be at bedtime.” Bedtime Calculatorlike the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
– Avoid caffeine and energy drinks in the afternoon and evening.
– The best sleeping environment is a cool, dark and quiet room. Earplugs and sleep masks can help in noisy households. Too warm in your bedroom can affect you and staying asleep, says adolescent sleep expert Kyla Wahlstrom.
Know the signs of lack of sleep in your teens
Some obvious evidence of sleep deprivation: irritated, gross, tempered, emotionally fragile, unmotivated, impulsive, and more likely to see the world and yourself through a negative lens. Teens who are sleep-deprived may fall asleep during the day in the car or in class.
“We often blame adolescents for being lazy, unruly, or bad at behaviour, much of which can be attributed to the fact that they are chronically lacking sleep,” says Wendy Troxel, a clinical psychologist who has conducted many studies on adolescent sleep.
How do you tell the difference between a sleepy teenager and a grumpy, wet guy?
– One important sign is what sleep expert Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse calls “Zombie Mornings.”
“If your teen snoozes five times and takes you forever to get out of bed, I ask you to have a cup of coffee in the morning.
– Extreme mood swing is another sign. Sleep is important for emotional processing, making sleep-deprived teens more likely to become irritated, anxious, or depressed.
– Sleep-deprived teens can fall behind in school as sleep is essential for integration of learning and memory.
– That’s the few sleeping teens It’s likely to make a bad choice Regarding drug and alcohol use, drowsiness, reckless driving and dangerous sexual behavior.
– Will your teens sleep until lunch on weekends? “Perhaps they don’t get enough sleep on weekdays,” says von Isalyawons. It’s okay to sleep a little, but try limiting it to a few hours. Otherwise, it will be thrown out of the body clock and make it difficult to wake up when the new school week begins.
Why do teenagers need to worry about it? Show me the science
Explain to your teens why sleep is important and that it’s not just nagging parents to say that. There is huge amount of data on mental health and sleep.
-Many studies show that depressionand anxiety The risk of suicide thinking It goes up when you lose sleep.
– Beyond mood, lack of sleep affects physical and motor skills. That’s why several NFL and NBA teams are hiring sleep coaches. Sleep-deprived teens Maintain more physical injuriesthey take more risks, so their judgment is compromised, and the reflexes and reaction times are not that fast. People who get more sleep in sports perform better and get injured will recover faster.
– Studies show that teenage car accidents are more common due to sleepy driving than driving under the influence of alcohol. Teens who say they sleep less than 8 hours a night are more likely Do not wear seat belts while drivingDrink and drive – or get in the car with the driver drinking.
As parents know, telling teenagers to fall asleep doesn’t always work. You need to get their buy-in.
“Children need to be educated about sleep, and their brain and emotional health. “To your children, “You do better at school, you’ll be better at sports. After a good night’s sleep, you’ll look better.” Because they don’t do that until they want to help themselves. ”
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