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What If Teen Are Not Having Enough Sleep? Like it or not, sleep forms an integrated part of our life. But for some very busy people, sleep seems to be wasting time and they will try their best to cut their sleep duration to as short as possible, some sleep only 3 to 4 hours every night. There is no magic number for hours we need to sleep every night. This is because sleep duration required by individuals can depend on his or her basal sleep need (amount of sleep body need on a regular basis for optimal performance) and sleep debt (accumulated sleep lost to poor sleep habits, sickness, awakenings due to environmental factors or other causes). Many things can happen if we have insufficient sleep. For instance, it would raise the risk of having motor vehicle accidents and getting diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Generally, every healthy adult requires a basal sleep need of 7 to 8 hours a night. Nevertheless, thing would get complicated once interaction between basal sleep need and sleep debt is taken into consideration. The amount of sleep we need also depends on our age. The duration of sleep would gradually decrease with age. As recommended by National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in the United States, the sleep duration should ranges from 12 to18 hours for newborns (0 to 2 months) to 7 to 9 hours for adults.
Having inadequate sleep is not just a problem for adults. It happens to children and youngsters as well. A study that was published on October 1, 2012 in the ‘Canadian Medical Association Journal’ reported that teens that do not sleep enough are more likely to have heart disease later in their life. Researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, University of Toronto, and other institutions in Canada tracked 4,104 Ontario teenagers (51 percent were male) who answered questions on their sleep quality. All these participants were healthy, but one-third of them with the worst sleep scores showing signs of potential heart disease in their later life. Analysis of findings showed that 48 percent of all teens were either overweight or had elevated blood pressure or bad cholesterol as compared with 39 percent who had better rest. After taking into accounts of other factors like diet, exercise and TV habits, the researchers still found that one-third of teens with the worst sleep quality were 43 percent more likely to have heart disease risk factors than 33 percent with the best sleep quality. Poor sleep included problems falling asleep or staying asleep, nighttime restlessness and bad dreams. Though these teens were healthy, their health conditions might just change later in life because the risk factors tend to track into adulthood and get worse. Nevertheless, the researchers admitted that they could not prove sleep problems were responsible for all these. But one thing they are certain is that that getting too little sleep could have negative effects on certain hormones, including ones that regulate appetite and fat metabolism. People having short period of sleep tend to have more chances for snacking, and less energy for exercise the next day. Moreover, sleep problems are sometimes related to the lifestyle or habits people have. For example, people who get little sleep tend to spend more time in front of the TV and eat a poorer diet than people who have better rest. While the recommended hours of sleep per night for teenagers are between 8 and 9 hours, most kids in the study slept fewer than 7 hours on weeknights. Although these kids often sleep more on weekends, it is impossible to repay the sleep debt during the weeknights. Therefore, parents should encourage their kids to keep a consistent sleep schedule on all days of the week, and help them get TVs, computers and cell phones out of their bedrooms. Kids should also cut down on caffeinated drinks during the day since experts believe these drinks would affect their sleep too.
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