“Get out of bed! Its 10 a.m.!” Something that I, like many teenagers heard on many Saturdays. The common stereotype of teenagers being lazy and sleeping for way too long is well known. But why is it the case? Is it just that teenagers have a natural phase of being lazy or is there more to it? On another rather odd note, I often hear people bragging about just how little sleep they get by on. Is that a good thing I mean more hours awake in a day means more hours to get things done. Well, the reality is perhaps not what many teenagers or their parents want to hear.
The reality is that sleep is essential to the body and not in the ways that many of us think. Yes, it is absolutely important to sleep so our bodies have time to rest, but it’s also the time when your body cleans out the garbage and when it builds! In fact, one of the most important things that your body does when it sleeps is to build. The vast majority of Human Growth Hormone is released at night between 10 P.M. and 2:00 A.M. and the hormone is what helps your body build! In the younger population, this is essential! Building muscles requires a lot of energy all on its own. Now throw in new brain connections and bone growth and the average child is a full-blown construction site. This is one of the reasons why sleep is so important for adolescence and why babies sleep so much. Now, before all the teenagers go running to their parents about how making them get up early is unjust and their parents are stunting their growth, there are several things that they might not be doing as well as they think. The first is that not all sleep is equal. Research has shown that getting to bed early, having consistent bedtimes and avoiding screen time right before bed will vastly improve a person’s sleep. Your body likes to know what’s coming and having an early, consistent bedtime means your body’s internal clock is getting prepped for the night’s work as the bedtime approaches. The second problem that many teenagers (and older adults) have is using their cellphones or watching tv right before bed. The main issue is that the bright light tricks the brain into thinking that its actually day time. Your body stops its sleep preparation and instead starts getting revved up for what it thinks is another day. This leads to a hard time falling asleep and poorer sleep once you actually do fall asleep.
The bottom line is that sleep is essential for everyone and when a body is under a lot of strain its going to need even more. Trying to get by on as little sleep as possible is like trying to drive your car for as long as possible with no oil changes and bad gas. You can do it and it might be beneficial in the short term, but you will end up paying for it down the road. Everyone (especially our younger population) could use a little more QUALITY sleep will no cell phones, or T.V.s and preferably before midnight.