Understanding Parental Influence on Your Teens Behavior
Tips for Parents Dealing with Sibling Rivalry
Do you think your teens' sleeping habits might be due to depression? Visit these sites to learn about teen depression:
It's a struggle to get your teen out of bed. Her alarm clock goes off, but she continues to sleep soundly. Even when you open the blinds to let the morning light in, she groans and throws the covers over her head. You have to practically drag her out of bed to get her to class. Your once punctual child has become a perpetually tardy teenager. What's wrong with her?
Chances are, your teenager is not getting enough sleep. Recent studies show that teenagers need between 9 and 9 ½ hours of sleep every night to perform their best during the day. Unfortunately, overloaded schedules prevent many teens from getting the sleep their developing bodies need. The demands of school, extracurricular activities, jobs, social life, and entertainment (movies, television, e-mail, video games) result in many teenagers getting only 6 or 7 hours of sleep.
Research shows that while teenagers sleep, hormones are released to promote growth and development. It's especially important that teens get enough rapid eye movement (REM) sleep to boost their learning and memorizing abilities. Not enough sleep can make your teenager struggle to stay awake in school. It can also make him moody, lethargic, and unable to concentrate on important activities, like driving.
The solution is not as simple as getting him to bed by 8:00 PM. Your teenager's biological clock works differently than a child's or adult's. If your teen tends to stay up late and get up late, it's because of his internal clock.
Some school districts have begun to shift their schedules to accommodate students' biological clocks, starting classes after 8:00 AM. Until this becomes a universal practice, though, you'll have to work with your teen to help her get enough sleep and stay alert in class.
Here are ways to help: