By: Briana Nelson
Often, especially as adolescents, we find ourselves wanting to stay up into the wee hours of the morning, whether it be to FaceTime a friend, finish homework and study for a test, listen to a new album from a favorite artist, or even just to binge watch an awful TV show. However, when teenagers and young adults don’t get enough sleep, it can have lasting negative effects on their wellbeing and health
Some common causes of sleep deprivation in adolescents are use of electronics, hormones (surprisingly, puberty hormones push the teenage “body clock” forward by 1-2 hours, meaning our bodies WANT to stay up), a busy after school schedule with sports, homework, chores, sleep disorders, and more. These activities result in teens not getting the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep, which are necessary in brain development. Lack of sleep can take a toll on teens both mentally and physically, with effects such as, concentration difficulties, poor decision making skills, moodiness and depression, slower physical reflexes, and loss of academic and emotional awareness and “alertness”. All of these effects can lead students to struggle in their academic activities, social outings, and physical performance in sports and performing arts. With that being said, sleep is crucial to adolescents if you want to live a healthy, happy, and productive life!
When humans are asleep, we experience various cycles of sleep that come with different stages as shown to the left. In addition, we can divide these sections into two sections: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and Non REM sleep. Each cycle consists of periods of both REM and Non REM sleep, with more REM sleep occurring later in the night. During Non REM sleep, brain activity slows, and your body goes into recovery mode, while during REM sleep, your muscles become paralyzed, the heart rate quickens, and brain activity picks up increasing cognitive properties (intellectual activity).
In concurrence, sleep also helps regulate the hormones that help us function properly, such as growth hormones and de-stressing hormones (Cortisol). Sleep is crucial to both our physical and mental development so it is very important that we make the time to get some sleep!
Remember that we can FaceTime friends, binge watch Netflix, and even study at any other time of the day. 10 more minutes on your phone is not worth sacrificing your brain’s cognitive abilities and your bodies’ hormones. Some ways to help encourage an appropriate amount of sleep are to avoid electronics 45 minutes prior before going to bed, sleeping in on weekends when staying up late, taking naps when tired, straying away from early morning practices and appointments if possible, and prioritizing your sleep over grades and friends! Sweet dreams!