Teens and Sleep

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I have ever gone an entire day at school without feeling tired and ready for a nap at least once. Though everyone is prone to an occasional bad night’s sleep, or afternoon drowsiness, more and more research is finding that it is becoming a much larger problem for teens and young adults. There are multiple reasons why this is happening, ranging from those who choose not to sleep, to those who cannot sleep. I hope this post helps convince those who choose not to sleep to make better sleep choices, and I hope it gives some practical advice to those who want to sleep but seem to struggle.

For those of you who choose not to sleep: go to sleep! Countless studies, though I will cite one, (Sharman, 2020) have shown over and over that 8-10 hours of sleep are crucial for school performance and turning short-term memory into long-term memory. If you are choosing not to sleep, you are choosing to make life more difficult for yourself. You will obviously be more tired during the school day (which is just miserable), but it will also make it harder to focus and get work done. Moreso, whatever work and studying you do get done will be largely erased as your brain cannot turn those short-term memories into long-term memories. Put down the phone, or video games, and get some sleep!

Speaking of electronics, one study (Hale, 2019) showed a direct correlation between screentime and sleep. The more screentime a person has during the day, but especially close to bed, the less sleep they get. This seems pretty obvious, but put down your phones and get some rest. A 2020 study (Robbins, 2020) looked at over 2 million nights of sleep data, and found that teenagers were getting the least amount of sleep of any age group, with right around 7 hours of sleep per night. That is right, the group that needs the most sleep, was getting the least. Combining these two studies paints a pretty clear picture: teens and young adults are the heaviest social media users and video game players, and they are losing sleep as a result. Hopefully at this point you realize the importance of good sleep, now lets talk about how you can actually achieve better sleep.

The U.S. Government has listed adolescent chronic sleep deprivation as a major public health issue (Seton, 2021) and a cause of mental health, behavioral, and performance issues. If you want to improve your sleep, here are research-based strategies to do so. Firstly, you need to give your brain a break from screens well before bedtime. Ideally an hour before bed, but even shooting for thirty minutes is better than nothing. Read a book, journal, listen to music, have a conversation with someone in-person (crazy idea, I know), stretch, or whatever else calms your brain without an electronic screen. Secondly, have a routine. Whatever it is that you want to do before bedtime, do it consistently. Do some journaling, then stretch, brush your teeth, wash your face, and get in bed (or whatever your routine is) in the same order, around the same time. This sends signals to your brain that it is bedtime, and will adjust your internal clock accordingly.

Lastly, and the usual advice I like to give, please speak to a professional. Meet with your physician, naturopath, therapist, nutritionist…etc to find other ways to help with getting enough sleep. It could be magnesium supplementation, to melatonin, to even pharmaceuticals, but you need to find the right fit for you, and your health. What cannot be overstated, however, is the importance of sleep, and making it a priority in your life. You will be healthier, happier, and more successful!

Hale, L., Li, X., Hartstein, L. E., & LeBourgeois, M. K. (2019, July 16). Media use and sleep in teenagers: What do we know?  Current Sleep Medicine Reports. SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40675-019-00146-x

Robbins, R., Affouf, M., Seixas, A., Beaugris, L., Avirappattu, G., & Jean-Louis, G. (2020). Four-Year Trends in Sleep Duration and Quality: A Longitudinal Study Using Data from a Commercially Available Sleep Tracker. J Med Internet Res, 22(2), e14735. doi:10.2196/14735

Seton, C., & Fitzgerald, D. A. (2021). Chronic sleep deprivation in teenagers: Practical ways to help. Pediatric Respiratory Reviews, 40, 73–79. doi:10.1016/j.prrv.2021.05.001

Sharman, R., & Illingworth, G. (2020). Adolescent sleep and school performance — the problem of sleepy teenagers. Current Opinion in Physiology, 15, 23–28. doi:10.1016/j.cophys.2019.11.006