How Much Sleep Does A Teenager Need?

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Sleep is a sustenance that is necessary for the brain. Even during sleep, the brain and other bodily functions are active and keeps the body running in utmost condition without any hindrance. Missing out on sleep can make you look tired and grumpy. Remember that sleep is essential for your well being and it helps you to cope with the stress of being a teen. Why is sleep important for most teens? According to recent studies, it has been revealed that teenager sleep patterns differ from that of adults or kids. During teens' growing up years their body's circadian rhythm (24-hour internal biological clock) is momentarily retuned, which makes the person sleep later or get up later. This sudden change is due to the fact that, for teens the brain hormone melatonin is generated late in the night than that of kids and adults.

Incidentally this makes it harder for teenagers to sleep early. Before the teenage years, the circadian rhythm urges most children to fall asleep by 8 or 9 p.m. However, puberty hormones bring a drastic change to teen's circadian rhythm that it holds-up sleep till 11 p.m. or often later. Teens have a tendency to have irregular sleep patterns since they disreputably stay up late due to the pressure to do well in schools or to socialise. All these changes occur in teenager sleep patterns since the body's circadian rhythm tries to concur with the other time demands of the teens.

Nowadays for most teenagers sleep remains in the back burner because of the modern devices of communications such as computers, mobile phones or Skype. Making it a habit to snooze at the same time every night and getting up every morning can help teenagers to get the sleep that their body requires. Changing the lifestyle can effectively help pick up on sleep and no matter how much of sleep children get, they still need more if their body needs it.

Here are a few things to remember about teenager sleep.

Sleep is vital

Experts suggest that teenagers need about 9 to 10 hours of sleep every night. Most teens do not get eight to nine hours of snooze time because of the countless demands of school activities. A study has found out that teens performed better academically if they cut back on sleep later and followed a regular sleep pattern for their well being.

Teens need more sleep than kids

An average teenager requires at least 9.5 hours sleep per night since they need more time for serious nod off. Teenager sleep pattern has to be increased by one or two hours when compared to 9 to 10 year-old kids as the younger ones need only 8 hours of snooze time.

Mood disorders

Many youngsters or teenagers do not get enough sleep. They only sleep for six or seven hours which can lead to serious health consequences. Teens' notorious late nights can make them elevate the risk of depression and cause extreme disorders like mood swings, irritability, impatience and tiredness.

Hormonal shift

Puberty hormones alter the sleep phase in teenager's body clock pattern by one or two hours, which makes them sleep one or two hours later. However an overload of homework or extracurricular activities makes teens sleep less. This teenager sleep debt mostly leads to chronic sleep disorder. Staying up late can do a lot of damage by disrupting the teen's internal body clock. Extreme sleep deprivation has serious health consequences.

Irregular sleep patterns

Getting the right amount of sleep is crucial for teens if they want to do well in class tests or sports activities without faltering. However many teens have difficulty waking up on school mornings to dress up, eat breakfast or get to class on time because of sleep deprivation. Most teenagers sleep over the weekend due to irregular sleep patterns across the week and this can affect their internal biological clock which can lead to sleep disorders like narcolepsy, insomnia, or sleep apnea.

Teens can suffer from breast cancer

Teens who sleep for five hours for a period of one week can fall into the risk of lower levels of testosterone. The testosterone can in the long run affects men's libido and energy levels. Apart from men, women who sleep for less than seven hours have an increased risk of cancer including breast cancer.