by Melissa Berg
“I just can’t get Sara out of bed in the morning. This morning the snooze went off four times. She’s been late to school twice this week.” “I’m tired and in bed by eleven, and I try to make sure Ashley is in bed by then too, but all her friends are still online. She claims she can’t fall asleep before midnight or one anyway.” Sound familiar? Sleep deprivation can be a serious problem among adolescents. There are a number of things that parents can do to help their teens keep bad sleep habits from defining their lives.
Some Biological Facts
Why is sleep so vital to an adolescent’s well-being? During puberty, hormones released in the body change dramatically. This affects the body in many ways, including its ability to regulate sleep. While children and adults are wired to get sleepy late in the afternoon and into the evening and to be wakeful first thing in the morning, a teen’s internal clock is reset to go to sleep about two hours later than it was previously set and to wake up two hours later. This clock resetting is referred to as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, or DSPS. Despite this internal change, teens still need the nine hours of sleep that children need. If they get much less sleep, their bodies can’t complete all the stages of sleep. This leaves their brains unable to consolidate and move information from their holding zones to more permanent files from which it can later be retrieved.
When teens don’t get to bed until eleven or midnight and have to be awake by six or seven, they begin to build up a sleep debt, meaning they “owe” their bodies so many hours of sleep. As this cycle continues night after night, the sleep debt continues to grow. A teen getting only seven hours of sleep a night accumulates about ten hours of sleep debt by the end of the
week. Making matters worse, many teens like to sleep in on the weekend to make up for lost hours. But once they’ve gone two hours past their normal wake-up times, their internal sleep clocks are thrown off even more. That’s because the body needs to be awake about 15 hours before fully feeling the need to sleep again. On the night after sleeping in, a teen may not be able to fall asleep until two in the morning or later, and the cycle repeats itself.
These biological factors explain why teens seem sleepy so much of the time. Their internal clocks simply don’t match up with the daily schedules most of them must keep. In fact, adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Scharko states that “[DSPS] is so common that it could be
considered a normal part of adolescence.”
A Parental Concern
DSPS is a biological fact that most adolescents must face. Clearly, there is a parenting aspect to the issue of sleep deprivation and helping kids get through this period in their lives. But it is also a complex problem, involving more issues than one. As Christian parents, we strive to help our children make God-pleasing choices in every aspect of their lives. By nurturing and caring for the bodies that God has given us, we are being good stewards. We teach our kids to avoid alcohol and drugs. We make sure they are eating a balanced diet. Helping our kids get enough sleep is just as important. Here are a few practical tips that you can use to help your adolescent get the proper amount of sleep.
Tips for the Afternoon and Early Evening
Get the TV out of the teen’s bedroom. Dr. Scharko listed this guideline as tips number one, two, and three for parents of struggling teens. It’s that important! “This includes video games and anything else linked to a screen.” TV programming and video games are designed to hook viewers; late nights in front of the screen negatively impact sleep habits.
Teens can learn to avoid keeping late hours the night before a test or when a project is due. You can assist by helping your teen maintain a calendar containing deadlines, due dates for important projects, work schedules, and extracurricular activities. Parents should also encourage their teens to avoid napping during the day. If taking a nap is absolutely necessary, teens should limit their naps to 30 minutes or less. In this way their night sleep won’t be affected. Regular exercise and eating well are also important in the big scheme of a daily routine. However, neither of these should be done too close to bedtime. Exercise tends to give a burst of energy, and food digestion can interfere with sleep patterns.
Bedtime
It’s important to maintain a strong bedtime routine that allows at least eight hours of sleep. Keep the room quiet, dark, and comfortable, with soft music playing if desired. The regimen requires self-discipline in logging off or shutting off computers, televisions, or cell phones at a specific time each night. The routine can become ritualized, setting out clothes and showering to save a few minutes in the morning. It also helps to set aside a few minutes for quiet relaxation before climbing into bed. Bedtime is also a great time to study God’s Word, either with the Bible or by reading from short devotional material. With the many worries and stresses affecting our teens, what better way to end the day than to “cast all [our] anxiety on him” (1 Peter 5:7).
Set an alarm clock but avoid the snooze button. Sleeping 20 minutes longer without interruption is better than being continually disturbed by a snooze alarm to get a few extra minutes of shallow sleep. In the morning, open the blinds and turn on the lights to help the brain wake up. Parents can help by setting a good example. Consider adding a few of the tips for teens to your own evening routine.
One final note. Sleep problems are also commonly linked to other disorders. If you are concerned that your teen may be suffering from serious sleep deprivation, please see your physician.
From Parents Crosslink Autumn 2008 © 2008 Northwestern Publishing House. All rights reserved.