Most parents don’t know that teens need a minimum of 8-10 hours of sleep to grow a healthy brain and body, to learn, meet their potential and to protect them from harm. It is estimated that at least 50 percent of teenagers are very sleep deprived. If you are like many parents, you may have no idea how much sleep your teen is really getting and the negative effect lack of sleep is having on their life.

Sleep deprivation will impact many aspects of a teenager’s functioning:

Behaviour: Teenagers who are sleep deprived are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours, such as drinking, drug-taking, smoking, driving fast or unhealthy sexual activity.

Cognitive ability: Lack of sleep results in problems with attention, memory, decision making, reaction time, and creativity, all of which impacts on performance. Studies show that teenagers who get less sleep have worse school results, fall asleep in school, and have more school absences.

Mood: Sleep deprivation leads to a moody, irritable, and cranky teen who has difficulty regulating their emotions. e.g., getting easy frustrated, angry or upset which may lead to problems with family, friends and relationships.

Mental health problems: Tired teens lack resiliency and are more susceptible to mental health illnesses such as anxiety, depression and self harm.

Poor diet: Lack of sleep can lead to overeating, eating unhealthy foods and relying on high calorie, caffeinated energy drinks resulting in fatigue, poor skin, immune health, and inability to maintain a healthy weight.

Understanding their different sleep needs will give you the confidence to start a dialogue with them. Teens can have trouble getting enough sleeping due to a number of reasons such as:

Delayed sleep Schedules: After puberty, some teenager’s internal clocks can shift by up to 2 hours, meaning some teenagers may not be able to go to sleep until later in the night and as a result will prefer to wake up later in the morning. Help them develop a healthy wind down routine and remove them from devices 1 hour before sleep time and if they are not getting the minimum of 8 hours a night during the week, work to change that rather than letting them “catch up on sleep” over the weekend. A regular sleep/wake circadian rhythm positively impacts the other body clocks in the body such as digestion and hormones.

Social, work and school commitments: Teenagers who try to juggle social, work, and school commitments often end up working night shifts, completing homework, doing community work, or socialising late into the night. Therefore, it is important to analyse all their activities and assess whether they really need to do athletics in the evening and wake up at 5am to
go rowing.

Sleep isn’t a priority: Sleep often takes a backseat as teens will prioritise their social life, gaming, work or other activities over important shut-eye. It is important to help them to understand the role sleep plays in keeping them safe, healthy, having fun and achieving their dreams.

Research shows teenagers benefit from specific nutrients to support them to sleep better, feel less stressed, build resiliency and cope with the pressure of teen life. With this in mind, SleepDrops has specifically formulated TeenSleep & Stress for 9-19 year olds.

“My son found TeenSleep helpful to settle him down for the night. His bad habits of staying up too late were taking a toll on him. With exams approaching he was in need these and they have made a huge difference for him” – Julie