11/17/2023 0 Comments Average amount of deep sleep per night![]() This has even happened while teens were staying over in a sleep lab, she added. A lot of teens sleep with their devices in their rooms, so in the middle of the night when they wake up to use the bathroom, they'll reflexively check their phones, Melendres said. Of course, you can't talk about teens without talking about screens. But these naps can make it even more difficult to fall asleep at night, and it becomes a vicious cycle, she said. But teenagers can't make up for all that on the weekend, she said.Īnd because teens are so tired all the time, it's not uncommon for them to take naps after school, if they have the time, Melendres said. If, for example, a teen gets 7 hours of sleep on school nights, instead of closer to 9 hours (which Melendres said she recommends to teens who come to her clinic), that teenager will have accumulated about 10 hours of sleep debt by the weekend. Teens may try to make up for this on the weekends by sleeping late, Melendres said. and 9 a.m., which usually isn't feasible on a school day.Īs a result, teens are usually chronically sleep-deprived during the week, Melendres said. But even if a teen goes to bed at 11 p.m., to get the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep, she or he would have to wake up between 7 a.m. Īnd because bedtime is delayed, a teen's natural wake-up time is delayed, too. Someone who was able to easily fall asleep at 9 o'clock during his or her school-age years would have a natural tendency to fall asleep later, after reaching adolescence, Melendres said. Kids' biological clocks naturally shift around the time of puberty, Melendres said. Moreover, teenagers' circadian rhythms may make it difficult for them to fall asleep early enough at night to get enough sleep. Kids in this age group have a lot of demands, such as after-school activities and homework, which can keep them up at night, and then they have to wake up very early for school, Melendres said.īut at this age, parents no longer have as much control over bedtime as they once did. Indeed, only about a third of all teenagers get enough sleep, she said. Teenagers often fall short of getting their recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night, Melendres said. Teen already fast asleep at school (Image credit: Family business ) Bedtimes shouldn't vary between more than 1 or 2 hours from weekday to weekend, she said. To ensure that school-age children get enough sleep, it's important that they have a regular sleep schedule on both weekdays and weekends, Melendres said. It can also make kids moody and even hyperactive, she said. Sleep deprivation affects attention, concentration, decision making and problem solving, Melendres added. It's not just performance in school, she said. Moreover, doctors know that not getting enough sleep can affect every aspect of a child's day, Melendres said. That means that when you see third- or fourth-graders, for example, who fall asleep in school all the time, it's a big red flag that they may not be getting enough sleep, she added. Because this type of sleep is so restorative, school-age children are usually very alert during the day, she said. Kids in this age group spend a lot of their sleep time in slow-wave sleep, or deep sleep (a type of non-REM sleep), Melendres said. Other problems, such as nightmares and snoring, may also affect children's sleep at this age, she said. Younger school-age children (and older preschoolers, too) have wild imaginations, she said. It's during this period that some kids may develop nighttime fears, such as a fear of the dark, Melendres said. Most kids this age do get the recommended amount of sleep, Melendres said. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that school-age children get from 9 to 11 hours of sleep each night.
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