Ridiculously Simple Sleep Rec
So you want your teenager to get more sleep? This study says: give them a bedtime and they will.
Sounds too simple. But that’s the point. Parents of teenagers often fight an uphill battle as the night wears on: their kids have piles of homework, not to mention lots of late night energy. In an effort to empower our children with independence, we begin to think that we should let them figure this one out for themselves and set their own bedtimes. Or some of us are just so darned tired that we go to bed with the hope that our offspring will follow our lead and do the same soon after.
No great surprise here: teens don’t get enough sleep. But it turns out, if parents set a bedtime, their kids are much more rested. Some common sense steps really help – for instance, if devices live somewhere other than in your kids’ bedrooms (and they should!), then have a phone turn-in time that coincides with your ideal bedtime so that they are motivated to finish their work earlier. This piece of advice comes with an added bonus: if you do this, many kids who otherwise would have stayed up to hang out (virtually) with their friends simply opt to go to bed instead . Kids have always told me that they love/hate rules. When it comes to sleep, they love when their parents try to help them get more. They may not show you their love in a particularly affectionate way – that’s where the hate part comes in – but they know your limit-setting is well-intended.
One super interesting side note from this study was that screen time didn’t directly impact sleep duration. This was new to me, and I’d like to see it studied more. But the presence of devices in a bedroom will definitely delay kids from calling it a night, that we all know.
Teenagers in the US simply don't get enough shut eye. The consequences of this epidemic of sleep deprivation are extensive and include increasing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents, as well as suicidal thoughts and actions. Sleep-deprived teens are more likely to be involved in car crashes, and run a higher risk of injury during sports-related activities. Experts have pointed to various reasons for the chronic teenage sleep deficit: growing homework loads, too many… READ MORE
