Sleepless Spirits

Sleep is something that we all need. But let’s be honest, how many of us are actually getting enough of it? Over time we have noticed the decrease in sleep that teens have been having. After talking with some classmates, it turns out we are not alone. 

12th grader Allison Alcantara says that she goes to bed around eleven and sometimes even as late as eleven or midnight on school nights. When asked what keeps her up at night, she commented ”My boyfriend”. She admitted to feeling tired in the morning when getting up for school. Allison also said how she is a morning person and “really enjoys getting ready and starting my day”.

Then there is 10th grade Elise Madden on the cheer team, who has a similar bedtime of eleven pm on school nights. She stays up “Thinking about my assignments for the next day.” Like Allison, she also agrees to feeling tired in the mornings when she wakes up. But even despite that, she considers herself a morning person and loves getting ready. Elise is very productive in the mornings because she works out with her dad so it makes it easier for her to find herself getting out of bed in the mornings. 

Health teacher Livingston-Doles, also gave us some insight into why she believes teens stay up so late at night. “Thinking about school work, friends and social media,” significantly contributes to sleep deprivation within teens. This makes a lot of sense. We are overworking the brain to the point where it can’t rest, so we just twist and turn in the dark making us think even more. This also goes with research by Johns Hopkins Medical that where it is suggested  “afternoon naps. Tired teens may benefit from a 30- to 45-minute nap before dinner. This is a better fix for sleep deprivation in teens than sleeping-in, which throws off their body’s sleep cycle.“ 

Overall a common theme of stress about school and the balance of social media has a big impact on our sleep schedule. We can see that we are all dealing with a lot and it can affect sleep because you can’t seem to turn off your brain when it’s most wanted. It is also important to consider how we can better manage our time and help our well being by having consistent sleep.

Here are ten tips that could help improve your sleep schedule:

1. Turning off screen time an hour before bed to help relax and help the brain calm down.

2. Choose a relaxing bedtime routine for example: a bath or shower, reading or yoga.

3. Do the same bedtime routine every night to help build a schedule.

4. Be active during the day so that you are more tired at night.

5. Keep your bedroom dark your brain understands day and night to also build a better sleep consistency schedule.

6. Taking a short nap during the day for about 30 minutes.

7. Charge any electronics that can keep you up at night in a different room to help reduce temptation of getting up during the night or even staying up late.

8. Using the bed for only sleep, try using phones and doing homework or the dinner table or couch so that the body is able to understand that the bed is for sleeping.

9. Using blue light or warm lighting to help reduce bright lights and activate the melatonin in the body for sleep.

10. Setting an alarm to wake up at the same time every day to help keep a regular sleep schedule.