10 Tips to Help Your Teen Maintain Healthy Sleep Patterns

Only 15% of teens are getting enough sleep. Keep your teen healthy . . .

1. Make sleep a priority 
2. Remember you are the parent  
3. Body clock, same daily sleep and wake times— weekends too  
4. Set a 9-10 hour sleep goal  
5. Just say no to sugar and caffeine  
6. Screen time, power down at sundown – 2 hours prior to bedtime  
7. Bedroom, quiet and dark like a cave  
8. Temperature, find the comfort zone  
9. Meals, avoid heavy foods late in the day  
10. Liquids, stop sips two hours before bed

Sleep researchers have discovered that the adolescent body clock is delayed, releasing melatonin about 90 minutes later at the onset of puberty. Teens don’t get sleepy as early as the rest of us. They get over stimulated by the sugar and caffeine laden energy drinks they chug to make it through the day. They are also more reactive to nighttime light. 

To compound this problem they are reducing their melatonin levels by up to 22% if clutching their glowing smart phones and tablets into the late night hours. 

A good reference:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/from/sleep.html



And just for fun!