Many middle school and high school students do not get the sleep they need. Wheaton et al. Jan Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. CDC Healthy Schools. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Sleep in Middle and High School Students. Avoid screens such as computers, TV or smart phones, loud music, homework or any other activity that gets your mind racing for at least an hour before bedtime.
Avoid stimulants in the evening like coffee, tea, soft drinks and energy drinks. Keep your bedroom dark at night. Try to avoid watching television or using smart phones right before bed. In the morning, expose your eyes to lots of light to help wake up your brain. Do the same bedtime routine every night for at least four weeks to make your brain associate this routine with going to sleep.
Start your bedtime routine a little earlier than usual for example, 10 minutes after four weeks. Do this for one week. Add an extra 10 minutes every week until you have reached your desired bedtime. Get active during the day so you are more physically tired at night. Set up a comfortable sleep environment. Set up a regular wake-up time. Avoid staying up late on the weekends. Late nights will undo your hard work. Remember that even 30 minutes of extra sleep each night on a regular basis makes a big difference.
However, it may take about six weeks of getting extra sleep before you feel the benefits. Teenage sleep deprivation — other issues to consider If lack of sleep is still a problem despite your best efforts, suggestions include: Assess your sleep hygiene. For example, factors that may be interfering with your quality of sleep include a noisy bedroom, a lumpy mattress or the habit of lying awake and worrying. Consider learning a relaxation technique to help you wind down in readiness for sleep.
Avoid having any food or drink that contains caffeine after dinnertime. This includes coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolate. Avoid recreational drugs including alcohol, tobacco and cannabis as they can cause you to have broken and poor quality sleep. Where to get help Your GP Sleep disorder clinic. Sleep and mental wellbeing , , VicHealth, Victorian Government. Aussie teens forgo sleep for screens , , VicHealth, Victorian Government. Give feedback about this page. Was this page helpful? Yes No.
During sleep, the body releases hormones that fuel physical growth and development, brain circuitry, and sexual maturation. Between 14 and 17, teens should get between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night. It can be difficult to monitor how much sleep a teenager is getting and even harder to enforce good sleep habits during the adolescent years. But you can help your child recognize when they aren't getting enough sleep, how much better they feel when they do get adequate rest, and share steps they can take to develop healthy sleep habits.
Sleep during the teenage years can be problematic for a number of reasons. During adolescence, sleep patterns shift due to changes in circadian rhythms that delay the release of melatonin in the brain, making it difficult for most teens to fall asleep before 11 p. This can set up a perfect storm of teens going to bed later but needing to get up earlier on weekdays at the time in their lives that they need an additional couple of hours of sleep.
They may oversleep on the weekends to make up for a sleep deficit. In the long run, a sleep deficit caused by staying up late and waking up early during the week can lead to sleep deprivation , which can be the cause of extreme moodiness, poor performance in school, and depression.
Teens also have a higher risk of falling asleep behind the wheel and a having car accident. Teens can often be resistant to taking help from their parents, particularly if they do not recognize there is a problem.
If your teenager isn't getting adequate rest or is showing signs of sleep deprivation, it can help to gently guide them to recognize the importance of sleep so they will be more willing to develop healthy sleep habits.
One strategy is to talk up the benefits of regularly getting good sleep and the consequences of not getting enough. Some parents find it is easier to talk about things in earshot of their teen instead of talking to them directly. It can also be helpful to discuss the topic as it relates to yourself and not your child. For example, "I feel so much better today because I slept enough last night," or "I stayed up too late working on a project last night and I'm having a hard time concentrating today.
If your teen is ready to work on better sleep habits, you can start by helping them to figure out how much sleep they need. Then work backward from the time they need to wake up in the morning, to determine what time they should be asleep by to get a full eight to 10 hours of sleep. Once your teenager sets a sleep schedule that enables them to be well-rested, you can help them get the sleep they need each night.
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