Teenagers and Sleeping
Teenage period of one's life is aperiod of discoveries. Teenagers discover themselves emotionally andpersonally, get into relationships, have fun and do many things forthe first time in their lives during this period. Also, they startgoing out on weekends and staying out late. This makes them sleep alot during the next day, disrupting their sleeping schedules.Subsequently, they go to school without having enough sleep andsuffer from the consequences of this deficiency over the course of abusy week, only to go out again during the weekends. This viciouscircle of sleep deprivation can cause many problems in teenagerssince, statistically, they need at least 8 hours of good qualitysleep daily, 9 being optimal. Also, they need a good, constantsleeping schedule, which is rarely the case. However, there arethings and lifestyle changes which can help tired teens have evenmore energy for life exploration.
How To Help Your Teen Sleep Well?
It would be good to provide your teenwith a room which is reserved only for sleeping. However, since thisis rarely possible because teens need privacy and seclusion often,you can establish this rule for the bed only, making it a part of theroom used for sleeping only. If your child cannot fall asleep duringthe night, make him/her get out of bed and do something creative likewriting a journal or reading a book. This will put him/her in theright sleeping mood in no time. Also, the best part of the night tofall asleep at is before 1am. Therefore, make sure your child doesnot go overboard since this will result in a worse quality sleep. So,establish sleeping hours as well as wake up hours and make these astandard.
You might need to switch your child'ssleeping schedule gradually, making him/her go to sleep 10 or 15minutes earlier which waking up earlier as well, until the desiredtimespan of sleeping has been reached.
Even though many parents approve sleepmedications and consider these useful, this method should not bepracticed upon teenagers. Therefore, avoid giving your child sleepmedications. These drugs have many different side effects and maycause serious problems in your child. On the other hand, even ifthese prove to be useful, their effect will be gone once the childstops taking them, having no permanent effect.
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