You snooze through all four of your alarms at six am. You miss the bus, forcing your mother to bring you into school which makes her late for work. Not only that, but you get a detention for being tardy for the third time. Sound familiar?
Today, more than eighty-five percent of teens do not get the essential eight and a half hours of sleep, let alone the nine hours teenagers need to keep healthy. During the teenage stage, getting a good night of sleep is vital. Drowsiness limits the ability to learn, listen, concentrate, and solve problems. It also makes adolescents prone to acne, intensifies the effects of
alcohol and caffeine, and cause mood swings.

It’s recorded, from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), that a tired person may forget numbers, homework, names, or dates.

With a good night of rest, academic skills are improved, student behavior is enhanced, tardiness is decreased and alertness is greater. Stress is also managed better and illness becomes less common, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Teenagers today sometimes have a more difficult time to fall asleep. The NSF also says, t’s natural for some teens to not fall asleep before 11 pm.

However, sleeping can always be improved in simple ways. Making sleeping a priority is the first step. Establishing a bed and wake up time, taking mid-day naps, eating carbs and getting rid of anxiety are all helpful ways to get a more efficient night of sleep. Moreover, avoiding takings pills or vitamins, and not drinking sugary beverages, will, too, enlighten a better sleeping habit. Also, the brain registers brightness and sound as an alert to wake up; so keeping on bright lights and sleeping in a noisy area, will disrupt a good night of sleep.

Sleep for anyone is vital, but in the teen stage, it tremendously effects daily matters.

Featured image courtesy of childrensmd.org