Sleep, or the proper rhythm between daily activities and sleep, is a fundamental life habit that contributes to health and affects the general feeling of satisfaction, strength and motivation to engage in various activities during the day. Delayed or insufficient sleep, if frequent, can lead to various psychophysical disorders and impair a person's normal functioning.
Sleep duration, continuity, phases that alternate during sleep - all these are aspects of sleep that are important for recovery processes without which we would not be able to function optimally physically and mentally.
As we grow older, our sleep patterns change. Newborns sleep for a long time both during the night and during the day. As children grow, they begin to sleep longer during the night, shorter during the day. During childhood, children sleep about 10 hours a night. This period of sleep decreases during adolescence, mainly due to biological changes but also due to socio-cultural reasons.
Sleep is an important aspect of development during adolescence. It reflects on behavior, cognitive abilities, daily functioning, mood.
Optimal adolescent wakefulness requires about 9 hours of sleep each night. It is worrying that only a small number of adolescents sleep as much as they really need. Lack of sleep in this period of life is a consequence of a number of factors: school and extracurricular obligations, social life (socializing with peers, going out, reduced parental supervision, staying out until late evening or early morning hours, etc.).
A change in sleep rhythm in adolescence is a natural phenomenon caused by changes in biological rhythms and lifestyle. Adolescents will more often experience themselves as evening / night types than as morning types. Older people are usually more of the morning type although neither is the rule.
Morning guys get up between 5 and 7 a.m. and go to bed in the evening between 9 and 11 p.m. while evening guys wake up between 9 and 11 a.m. and go to bed between 11 and 3 p.m. Most people are located somewhere around the middle, extremely morning or extremely evening types are rare. The rhythm of sleeping and waking changes during life, so often the morning types become evening types and vice versa.
In adolescence, going to bed in the later hours is a completely normal occurrence. The problem is that such a rhythm of sleep is not harmonized with school and other obligations, so due to premature waking up, adolescents can have consequences related to insomnia (fatigue, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty waking up, mood swings, lack of energy, etc.).
If the feeling of fatigue is constant and lasts for a long time, it may indicate a more serious disturbance of the homeostasis of the organism. Adequate rhythm of wakefulness and sleep at a young age is very important and too often neglected. Lack of sleep and fatigue in adolescence can lead to a variety of side effects and dysfunction. Due to the feeling of fatigue, young people more often resort to stimulants such as coffee and drinks with caffeine, cigarettes, etc., while at the same time reducing the intake of important nutrients for health. Fatigue is also associated with poorer success in school and with more frequent risky behaviors, mood swings, depressive states and the like.
Because of all of the above, it is important to repeatedly suggest to adolescents slow and consistent changes in sleep and waking schedules, those that are more aligned with school in the morning shift and other daily commitments.
The introduction of sleep hygiene is important at any age. These are different procedures that help maintain quality sleep, which significantly affects daily functioning.
I Advise:
Plan to go to bed and wake up in the morning at approximately the same time (during the week), gradually introduce that going to bed is not after 11 pm.
Balance daily activities and obligations because too much activity results in high levels of daily stress, which can lead to difficulties with both falling asleep and sleeping.
Use the bed mainly for sleeping because in that way going to bed itself stimulates falling asleep.
Avoid prolonged napping during the day as it can also disrupt the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.
Avoid various stimulants (eg nicotine, caffeine) before bedtime.
Avoid eating and exercising just before bed.
Exercise during the day because exercise works positively when appropriate and when done during the day, not just before bed.
Avoid thinking about problems before bed.
Reduce the amount of technology in the bedroom.
Provide a comfortable and soothing atmosphere in the bedroom.
Provide fresh air in the sleeping area (preferably do not heat the bedroom at night and ventilate before going to bed).
At least an hour before bed slow down, do something soothing (eg read,).
An hour before bedtime avoid screens (TV, cell phone, computer) and arousing activities, also immediately after waking up.
It has been proven that the more time we spend in front of computer and mobile phone screens, the shorter and worse we sleep, the harder it is to fall asleep and the harder it is to wake up, especially if we reach for our favorite electronic device before going to bed. This is the most common problem among young people today, related to sleep.
