Sleep and Teenagers – How Much Sleep Do Teenagers Need?
What do I need to know about sleep and teenagers?
All of us, no matter how young or how old, need a certain amount of good quality sleep in order to remain healthy and happy. However, our needs change with time and age, amongst other things, can dictate the exact number of hours of sleep needed per night. In order to get the benefit of having top quality bespoke beds, we need to make sure we spend enough time in them!
The subject of sleep and teenagers is often heard being discussed, but two things the experts tend to agree on is that we need more sleep during our teenage years than at most other stages of our lives and that teenagers tend not to get enough sleep to meet their needs.
Sleep and Teenagers – How Long Should They Sleep For?
Most research states that when it comes to sleep and teenagers, those between the ages of 13 and 19 need between eight and ten hours of sleep per night in order to function at their best. At a time when young bodies and minds are going through a period of great change, with accelerated growth and hormones raging, their bodies need to rest a little longer in order to recuperate.
Teens also tend to naturally fall asleep later in the evening, meaning that getting up early leaves them drowsy and there’s much debate on whether the school day should be adjusted to start later in order to accommodate this so teenagers can be at their best in order to maximise their learning.
What are the signs of lack of sleep in teenagers?
The signs of insufficient sleep in any of us could well be attributed to the stereotypical behavior often attributed to teenagers. Being moody, excessively emotional, being tired, worried or likely to exhibit signs of depression. Being withdrawn or struggling to concentrate as well as being drawn to unhealthy foods with the knock on effects to physical wellbeing. These are examples of how getting insufficient sleep can affect us all, in teenagers, these symptoms are simply more prevalent.
How do I make sure my teenager gets enough sleep?
Unfortunately, that other teenage trait of rebelliousness can prevent concerned parents from successfully enforcing “what’s best” on the teens living under their roof. Sometimes the best thing to do is to create an environment which encourages your teenager to get more sleep.
More than ever before, the teenager’s bedroom is a hive of distraction. Whether it’s mobile phones, tablets, TV’s, games consoles or computers, there are likely to be numerous things which keep teenage brains active and occupied when they should be winding down and many a frustrated parent will attest to the difficulty of getting teenagers to comply with ‘lights out’ rules, although restricting access to wi-fi can sometimes help!
Encourage your teenager to establish a good bedtime routine, to avoid caffienated drinks well before bedtime, or eating immediately beforehand. A dark, cool, bedroom environment will encourage sleep just like it does for the rest of us and getting out and about during daylight hours also helps the body establish a good routine.
Teenagers and Sleep – Give them the best chance of good quality sleep
Average height has been on the up for decades, so chances are that your teen may already be outgrowing their childhood bed and given that standard bed sizes haven’t increased for decades, they may already have outgrown any normal sized bed too. With this being the case, buying your teen a longer bed which better accommodates them, no matter how tall they are is likely to be the best thing you can do for their overall health. This allows them to be as comfortable as possible when they do go to bed, which means they’ll get the most out of however much sleep they get.
