Sleep and Teens: Importance and Benefits 

According to certain studies, teenagers should be sleeping 8-10 hours a day in order to be at an optimal condition of health. However most teenagers end up sleeping less than that, usually around 6 to 7 hours a night. Why is this happening? Why is sleep so important? How can a few extra hours benefit your overall well being?

Most teenagers do not sleep enough for a wide range of reasons. Academic work and pressure, extracurricular activities, school hours, the influence of a cumulation of many hours in front of a screen (for work during or for school and for leisure), biological changes and so much more. Teenagers face changes to their internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, which is what regulates your “sleep-wake cycle”. Melatonin, the hormone for sleep, gets released later into the night, close to 11 o’clock, contrasting that of younger children and adults, meaning that automatically teenagers sleep later than others. Their sleep schedule is also then interrupted again by the early wake up for school, severely impacting the mood, focus and productivity of their day.

Their academic life also affects their sleep schedule which then loops back to affect their academic performance and the cycle repeats itself. Lately, with the rising demands of universities, a lot of students overwork themselves and burn out just so that they can enter a university. The evening of a student is usually packed to the brim with large piles of school or home work, extracurricular activities and so many long and tiring hours of work that result in their bed time being pushed further into the night. Their prolonged exposure to screens is an additional factor to their lack of sleep. Due to the exposure to blue light, melatonin is not produced, making it harder for the body to fall asleep. Also, time can pass by quickly if one is “doom scrolling”, an activity of scrolling through social media platforms for a prolonged period of time without noticing how time passes, which is common for teenagers, can also push their sleep schedules later into the night.

As a consequence to the lack of sleep teenagers deal with, they tend to face quite a few problems. Lack of sleep can result to poor academic performances with lack of focus, bad memory and learning which then, in long term cases, results to bad grades. Health risks increase, whether mental or physical. Increased probability of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, emotional instability. Physical health problems include increased risks of car accidents, suppression of the immune system which can lead to infections and so much more. This is why sleep is so important. To avoid issues such as these it is very important to sleep a minimum of 8 hours a day and, preferably, 9 to 10 hours. 

But how can you improve your sleep? How can you avoid the issues presented above? There are many techniques that can be used to improve quantity and quality of sleep, you just have to find the method that helps you the most and stick to it. Firstly you have to train yourself to sleep at an earlier time, a time which allows you to wake up on time for school but also to give you 8 hours of sleep. You can start by sleeping 20-30 minutes earlier every night. Limiting the use of screens 30-60 minutes before bed and/or use blue light filters. Have constant and specific sleep schedules. By having a certain time that you wake up and fall asleep, you help regulate your circadian rhythm. There are a lot more different methods of improving your sleep schedule, there are so many sources that you can use to find the right method for yourself.

 All of these actions and more will greatly benefit your life. With a better sleep schedule you will see an improvement to your mood, your focus, your academic performances, you will be in good physical and mental shape and so many more benefits will be in your favour so long as you just sleep a few more hours rather than depriving yourself, your body from the sleep you need.