Sleep and Insomnia: The Dilemma of the Age in Adolescents

Sleep is the balm that calms and restores vitality after a long day. Sleep is closely related to the body's internal clock, which takes cues from external elements such as sunlight and temperature.

Perturbations in the sleep cycle disrupt the functioning of many body systems. Learning, memory, stamina, general health, and mood are affected by sleep duration. In fact, most people at some point in their lives have trouble sleeping. Possible consequences of persistent poor sleep include obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Sleep deprivation can also affect mental health.

How many hours of sleep do I need?

Sleep needs vary from person to person, and according to age groups. One person may need a full eight hours, while another can live normally with fewer hours of sleep. There is a difference even within age groups, but in general, the National Sleep Foundation in the United States provides these daily sleep guidelines:

1. Infants 4-11 months: 12-15 hours.
2. School age children 6-13: 9-11 hours.
3. Teens 14-17: 8-10 hours.
4. Youth 18-25: 7-9 hours.
5. Adults 26-64: 7- 9 hours.
6. Seniors 65+: 7-8 hours.

What is the time required to enter the sleep process?

In general, it should take about 10 to 20 minutes for a person to fall asleep, but if one realizes that it will take longer time - whether it takes 20 minutes or an hour - that can lead to anxiety about sleep, negatively affecting its quality.

Falling asleep as soon as the head touches the pillow is not evidence that one is sleeping well. Rather, it is more likely an indication that the individual is sleep-deprived.

Do some people need more sleeping hours than others?

Some people may feel rested after 7 hours of sleep, while others do not feel rested unless they get 9 hours. It appears that there are rare individuals who can function efficiently with fewer hours of sleep, and evidence suggests that it is due to genetics. On the contrary, it appears that there are some people who need significantly longer periods of sleep -up to 10 hours a night- to function optimally.

Can a person really know that they are  short sleepers?

Short sleepers or those who are genetically programmed to get less sleep than average do exist. It is thought that they make up roughly 5% of the population. However, many people who think they are functioning well on little sleep may actually be chronically sleep deprived. Evidence suggests that it is difficult for people to objectively judge their mental state after several nights of poor sleep.

How can I get better sleep?

1. Make sure your bedroom is cool and dark.
2. Use your bed only for sex and sleep.
3. Avoid caffeine from mid-afternoon on.
4. Avoid all screens for at least an hour before going to sleep. Blue light in screens delays sleep latency by an average of 10 minutes, and suppresses melatonin.
5. Avoid sleeping in front of the TV.

What tools can help me sleep?

Many sleep experts agree that using heavy blankets helps people sleep, especially for those with conditions such as restless leg syndrome. Users find that the blankets provide a form of comfort just as hugging or swaddling babies.

Wearing a sleep-tracking bracelet can help record when you go to sleep and wake up and detect interrupted sleep. Ironically, its main benefit may be to reassure those who believe they never sleep- a phenomenon known as paradoxical insomnia.

Is insomnia in teens normal?

It's the hot summer days when you'll find some teens getting up late at night and sleeping until noon. There is clear evidence that staying up late in the day is a fairly normal behavior in adolescence. When young people enter puberty, they experience a natural change in their circadian rhythms,"the biological process that regulates our sleep-wake cycle" is called "sleep delay". Although teens tend to stay up late, they still need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Those "lazy" teens who get out of bed in time for lunch probably listen to their bodies, no more, no less. This becomes a problem when our modern society disrupts the normal wake-and-sleep cycles of teens, leading to what a group of researchers has described as a "perfect storm" of sleep disturbances for adolescents.

Light, blue, teens:

Blue light from modern technology - phones, computers, tablets, TVs - has been shown to disturb our circadian rhythms and keep us awake. While this is true for people of all ages, studies on both animals and humans have found that teens are most affected by blue light compared to people of other ages.

When you imagine a teenager awake in the middle of the night, what do you imagine them doing? They are more likely watching a movie, playing video games, or texting friends; That is, all the activities that will make it difficult for them to fall asleep later.

Why do schools start so early in the morning?

Most middle and high schools start early in the morning. This makes them out of sync with the natural circadian rhythms of teens. The US National Sleep Foundation recommends that middle and high schools start classes no later than 8:30 A.m to give students a chance to sleep later.

Insomnia increases with the development of life:

Increasing academic and social pressures, which require more use of technology- contribute to the problem, making it difficult for teens to get enough sleep. Only 22% of American high school students reported getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night, with a decrease of 31% from before, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Is insomnia harmful to teenagers to this extent?

Evidence shows that getting enough sleep is essential to the overall health of adolescents. Systematic reviews have found that sleep disturbances in young people are associated with depression, emotional reactivity, obesity, and risk-taking behaviors. Sleep enhances learning and memory, and not getting enough sleep increases concentrating  difficulties in school.

In conclusion:

It is well known that sleep allows the body and brain to regenerate energy. Memory consolidation, information processing, physical growth, muscle repair and countless other processes are supposed to occur during sleep. After all these great benefits of sleep, we can advise you at the end of this article, to consult your psychiatrist when you have any problem sleeping for moe than a week, as sleep disturbance may be the first manifestation of several psychological disorders, and as we know,  the most important factor in the recovery of mental illness is the early diagnosis.