Sleep: The Key to A Happy and Thriving Teen
As Featured in Talk Education’s newsletter, 14.09.23:
Sleep: that elusive elixir of life - if it’s on your side, you can face pretty much anything; without it, life can feel an uphill struggle from one day to the next.
We are very aware of the importance of sleep and yet, in our busy working lives, how much do we prioritise it, both for ourselves, and for our children, especially in the teenage years? During this stage of their lives, there is so much going on with school life and expectations from family and friends, that it has almost become the norm to see a generation of sleep-deprived teens during term time.
The idea that teenagers can sleep in the holidays and just crack on and burn the midnight oil during term-time is one that doesn’t sit so comfortably anymore.
There are three crucial questions we need to ask:
How much sleep is enough for an adolescent?
The answer to this question is often surprising as they seem to survive on just a few hours.
And yet, the difference between surviving and thriving can be huge. According to The Child Mind Institute, “teenagers need 9.25 hours of sleep to be optimally alert” and “multiple studies have shown that the vast majority today are living with borderline to severe sleep deprivation…Some 23 percent get six hours of sleep on an average school night and 10 percent get only five hours.”
2. What are the signs of sleep deprivation?
The consequences are very evident in the school day - both inside the classroom and outside. Some students will be struggling to focus and participate in class, even nodding off by lunchtime, and finding it hard to cope with day-to-day social situations and the usual school expectations.
Young Minds tells teenagers that some of the symptoms they might experience that relate to poor sleep, are:
Feeling lonely or isolated because you don't have the energy to see people.
struggling to concentrate in school or at work.
feeling more irritable.
being more affected by other mental health problems such as depression or mania.
With such severe symptoms, it is no surprise that the news appears to keep telling us that we are in the midst of an anxiety epidemic.
3. The key question, therefore, is how can you help your teen to get a good night’s sleep?
Here are 7 Key Ways to Help:
Establish a Healthy Sleep Routine
We often underestimate the importance of preparing for sleep throughout our day. Just as we need our five fruit and veg a day, so too, do we need a good balance of exercise, daylight, focus, nutrition and purposeful relaxation, in our day to ensure we’ve exerted our energy in a healthy way and are ready to fall asleep when our heads hit the pillow.
Watch the Snacks
It is sometimes amazing what very intelligent teenagers will put into their bodies without thinking of the consequences. Many sleep issues can easily be erased by changing habits around consuming energy drinks, tea and coffee, as well as high-sugar snacks. Guidelines suggest the ideal choice is for no caffeine after 3pm.
Limit Screen Time
This is always one of the biggest struggles amongst teens - how many willingly choose to come off screens an hour before bed and wind down with a good book? Whilst they are most likely aware of the effects that exposure to blue light has on our circadian rhythm, teens are perhaps not so conscious of the potentially damaging effects of looking at social media before going to sleep.
The last thing they need on their minds at this time of night is feeling anxious, lonely, or stressed, as a result of reading a comment or seeing images of what their friends or frenemies are doing.
Prepare the Night Before
This is such a great tool in helping teens not only to sleep better, but also to start the next day off well. Checking that they have everything ready for the next day - in terms of books, clothes, snacks and sports kit - and having it laid out, or sat by the door - means that a sleepy teenager can get out the house with far less effort than one struggling to find things in a rush!
Keep the Bedroom as a Relaxation Zone
In these post-Covid times, it is very normal for teenagers to work in their bedrooms and the zones of relaxation and focus tend to be very merged. This working pattern is fine until it stops working. As soon as your teen starts associating bed with doing schoolwork or scrolling through social media, it loses the safety valve of being a comforting and cosy place to go to at the end of the day.
Anything you can do further to encourage the bed as a calm place, such as by using sleep aids, from pillow sprays to eye masks and meditations, will only help to promote a good night’s sleep.
Boost Productivity
A key aspect of my coaching practice focuses on helping students use their time more effectively. Hours can be spent procrastinating and so work gets delayed, and so too does their relaxation time. The students who thrive most on a regular basis - i.e. the students who achieve their best results whilst maintaining a strong sense of balance in their lives - have a strong grasp of the importance of productivity.
Work can be done in short, intense bursts with small breaks in between and time limits set. Once completed, it is vital to take a break from cerebral activity and encourage social interaction or purposeful relaxation, time outside and time spent exercising.
Keep an Eye on Extra Activities
How overburdened is your child? Which activities bring them joy and which are draining them of energy? Whilst we wish to encourage our children to gain new skills and participate fully in school life, the benefits of these activities vary from child to child, and it might be worth considering what these additional elements in their day bring to your child’s wellbeing? The key often lies in how they feel before and after the activity on a consistent basis.
In my work with groups of school pupils, it is always interesting to hear about their sleep patterns and it greatly concerns me to hear how many struggle to get to sleep and are having to turn to sleeping pills or other extreme measures as a last resort.
The good news is, that with a healthy sleep routine established, we can see big results with a few positive small changes. Many schools are embracing this aspect of wellbeing, with some even launching sleep programmes to help support and inform their pupils to gain the benefits of good quality sleep.
In the words of the sleep expert, Matthew Walker:
“Sleep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow.”
