Sleep

CATEGORY: PERSONAL

Why:

Good sleep is essential for mental health. Through awareness and practice we can improve sleep quality.

Warm-Up:

What's your usual sleep schedule, and how well do you sleep?

Exploration:

Good sleep is essential for our happiness. But unfortunately the majority of adolescents and adults in the US do not get enough sleep. Without sleep we're more likely to feel depressed, anxious, and moody. Most adolescents need 9-10 hours of sleep per night. Since school start times are set, often the challenge is getting to sleep early enough. Why do we like to stay up late? Do you have a goal for when you would like to get to bed, and any suggestions for what helps you sleep well? See link for more details.

Additional Resources:

As students share, look for ways to normalize the huge variation in how we sleep. As adolescents go further into their teenage years, their body clocks shift later and later, meaning that they can’t get sleepy often until 10, 11, or midnight or later. Adults sometimes interpret this as adolescent rebelliousness, but it’s a biological effect. The problem is that school starts too early, causing many teens to be chronically sleep- deprived. The research indicates that 9-10 hours of sleep per night is optimal for adolescents. It also shows that our melatonin production, the hormone that helps regulate our sleepiness, is affected by light -- the more light coming in, whether natural light or from a screen, the less melatonin we produce. So screen time is a major player in why it’s hard to sleep.

For more background, click here.