How to Help Your Teenager Get Enough Sleep

 Most teenagers need approximately 9 hours of sleep a night.  The teenagers I meet rarely get that amount of sleep. We have a generation of chronically sleep deprived adolescents. Teenagers who are sleep deprived are significantly more likely to:

Ø     Feel depressed and anxious
Ø     Have trouble remembering information
Ø     Have difficulty understanding ideas and concepts
Ø     More likely to feel irritable, moody and angry
Ø     Have slower reaction times
Ø     More likely to be in a car accident if driving
Ø     Can start to have slurred speech
Ø     Can experience muscle tremors
Ø     Are more likely to have high blood pressure

All of these effects of sleep deprivation have been documented conclusively in scientific studies. If we were to eliminate sleep deprivation in teens, most of them would be happier, safer, do better at school and be less likely to get sick.

There are two reasons teenagers do not get enough sleep. First, some teenagers simply do not want to go to bed any earlier, because of the things they want to do, or the things they have to get done. (“But I’m not tired. Everyone stays up until midnight in my class. I’ve got too much to do. I study best late at night”).  Second, some teenagers would like to sleep more but find they can’t get to sleep early enough in the evening to get nine hours in before they have to get up for school the next morning. (“I’ve been lying in bed awake for 2 hours!”). Some teenagers struggle with both of these kinds of sleeping problems. In fact teenagers who are reluctant to go to bed are sometimes reluctant because they have trouble getting to sleep anyway. Let’s consider these two issues separately:

1. Teenagers who don’t want to try to get to sleep earlier

It is important to ask young people, in detail, why exactly they don’t want to get to bed any earlier. Questions like: “what is the best thing about being up later on your own at night”, “what is unpleasant about having to go to bed at 10pm?”, “what makes it hard to finish everything so that you can go to bed earlier” – all asked in a genuinely interested, non-agenda driven way, can help identify the factors that are involved the lack of sleep. Once we have this information, we might be able to brainstorm ways of young people still achieving what is important to them whilst still getting extra sleep. It is also important for young people to have clear information about why they should sacrifice their precious leisure time for sleep – it may help to direct them to internet sites which document the science behind sleep deprivation. Two such sites which might be helpful are below:

www.sleep-deprivation.com/

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation

Finally, if teenagers are resistant it is worth encouraging them even to get 15 minutes extra of sleep per day. If they can organise their evening so that they can get to bed even just 15 minutes earlier, then over time this will have a beneficial effect. A 15 minute nap after school can also be useful (provided insomnia isn’t an issue – see below) or organising to have 15 minutes extra sleep in the morning by packing bags etc the night before.

2. Teenagers who can’t get to sleep (insomnia)

For some students, it is not that they want to stay up all night, but that they can’t get to sleep. Unfortunately, sleeping problems are not unusual in teenagers. 

For minor or short term sleeping problems, some simple tips can be useful including  avoiding caffeine four hours before bed, avoiding hot baths or showers before bed, using meditation or relaxation tapes (available from local libraries), avoiding exercise one hour before bed,  avoiding the internet/television screens for one hour before bed, having a cup of milk before bed and using white noise (like a cooling fan) to block out distractions.

Another option for persistent insomnia is to undertake what is called Stimulus Control Therapy. Stimulus Control Therapy is based on the theory that you need to “condition” or associate your bed environment with relaxation/sleep and “uncondition” or disassociate your bed environment with anxiety/wakefulness. Stimulus Control Therapy has six steps, which are outlined below.  

By following these six steps rigorously, the student will “condition” or associate their bed with being asleep. This can be a tough program to follow, but it is usually very successful. However, if extreme sleeping problems (e.g., not being able to get to sleep after 3 or more hours of lying in bed, for more than 2 nights a week) are being experienced, I recommend that this program be followed under the supervision of a GP, psychologist or sleep specialist.

Steps in Stimulus Control Therapy

1.      Lie down intending to go to sleep only when sleepy. Sometimes this might be very late at night.  Sometimes it might be very early. It is not important that it be at a regular time.

 2.      Do not use your bed for anything except sleep; do not read, watch TV, eat or worry in bed. Sexual activity is the only exception for this rule.

 3.      If you can’t fall asleep within about 10 minutes, get up and go to another room. Stay up until you are sleepy and then go to back to the bedroom to sleep. Do not fall asleep anywhere other than bed.

 4.      If you still cannot sleep, get up again. Do this as often as it takes, throughout the night.

 5.      Get up at the same time every morning, 7 days a week, regardless of how much sleep you got during the night. This will help your body acquire a consistent sleep rhythm. When you first get up, try to get as much bright light as possible – preferably sun light, or bright fluorescent light.

 6.      Do not nap during the day, even for 5 minutes.   (You’ll see this goes against my earlier advice. To clarify: if a student doesn’t generally have trouble sleeping, then a short nap is useful. If they do have trouble sleeping, then naps can be counter-productive.)

 Continue with this program, even when very tired, for at least one week.

 If all else fails, and the student is having major sleep difficulties, consider complementary and traditional medications. For example, a tablet called Valerian (available from chemists or health shops) can be useful, as can traditional sleeping tablets. These should only be used in the very short term (e.g. perhaps during exam time when it is crucial the student gets some sleep), and should always be done under the guidance of a GP. 

If you would like more detailed information on this topic, you might like to consider purchasing The Years that Count from this website.

Kirrilie Smout

Clinical Psychologist