As a parent, if you notice that your teen is struggling to get out of bed on school mornings it may be because he or she did not get enough sleep. A recent nine-night sleep study involving 34 adolescents (between the ages of 15 and 17), found evidence that around 9.35 hours of sleep is needed “to maintain optimal sustained attention performance.”
According to the report, “[a]s soon as teens get less than nine hours sleep, attention deficits accumulate and jetlag-type behaviour starts to kick in – putting them at risk of poor performance at school and even personal injury through accidents, including car crashes if they drive.”
Reportedly only 15 percent of teens sleep for eight and a half hours on school nights. And the study suggests that young people who do not get enough sleep may be more likely to go from being a sleep-deprived child to a sleep-deprived adult!
Take the time to discuss with your teens the dangers of not getting enough sleep. They may be more receptive if they understand that the lack of sleep is a health-related matter and not something that their parents would love to see them do to stay out of trouble.
Read more about teenagers and sleep via phLabs.