Sleep should be one of the easiest things we do. After all, it’s basically lying down and doing nothing, right? It’s the one time of day when there are no responsibilities, no tasks to complete or demands on your time. Just pure rest.
Those adults who are already scoffing and rolling their eyes, because they know how hard sleep can be and how hard life can be when rest doesn’t come easily, will have at least a fraction of an idea of how difficult it can be for tweens and teenagers. Research shows, though, that kids in these age ranges can have some additional struggles, and may offer some ways to help combat them.
Circadian Rhythms
One major problem for teens and tweens is that their circadian rhythms can ‘reset’ in response to growth spurts, Dr. Anna Esparham explains in Healthy Children. When you’re absolutely at the end of your rope because no matter how many times you send them to bed at a reasonable time and call for them to get up at a reasonable time, they seem to insist on trying to sleep all day and play video games all night, they’re (probably) not just being stubborn.
Instead, these resets make it physically difficult to be tired at the ‘right’ times, and not getting sleep during the normal periods leaves them exhausted and fatigued during the daytime, falling asleep on their desks.
Tip: Step Away From The Light
Another thing that can influence circadian rhythms (for adults too, so here’s your chance to set an example!) is lighted screens. The light from your devices can actually interfere with your rest even if you’re not actively using them. Dr. Esparham explains:
“Blue light from phones, computers, tablets, TV, and even nightlights, can trick the brain into thinking that it’s daytime. Over time, that can disrupt your teen’s natural levels of melatonin, a chemical that tells us we’re sleepy.”
She recommends even charging devices outside the bedroom to prevent a screen glow from robbing teens of necessary sleep.
Iron Deficiencies
Growing teens need a great deal of iron from diets and supplements. For reference, the NIH recommends 8 mg of iron per day for an adult man — but 15 mg for a girl between the ages of 14 and 18. Teen boys need around 11 mg.
Dr. Esparham explains that if your child isn’t getting enough iron, they’re apt to be jerked out of sleep by involuntary leg movements and cramps. They may not even realize why they’re waking up or sleeping restlessly. If you’re not certain whether your child is getting enough iron, your pediatrician can run a panel to check.
Tip: Consider Supplements & Other Aids
An iron supplement may help if your child isn’t getting enough of the necessary mineral from their diet. A few days of getting sufficient iron may find your child feeling more energized in the daytime and getting better rest at night.
Melatonin supplements can also help regulate the body’s sleep cycle, encouraging sleep at night and helping return those circadian rhythms to a healthy cycle.
It’s always wise to make sure that you consult with your doctor to make sure supplements are the best choice for your child before starting any new regimen.
Kids Have Stress & Anxiety Too
It’s easy for adults to fall into the trap of writing off teen and childhood stress as minor and insignificant. After all, they (typically) don’t need to support a family, or pay bills, and even if they have jobs, they’re typically part-time. Many of us would love to ‘only’ have the stress of math tests instead of mortgages.
For teens, though, the stresses they’re experiencing are still the biggest ones they’ve encountered so far, and they’re doing it without a fully-developed prefrontal lobe or the experience that they’ll have by adulthood. If that’s not bad enough, they’re doing it with raging hormones, changing bodies, and incredible social pressure.
Tip: Addressing Teen Stress
Helping your child get enough sleep can start with destressing. Encourage them to talk to you about stressors (and take them seriously!) and help them seek additional support if warranted.
Encourage your child to step away from stressors for a few hours before bedtime — shut the social media off, don’t take any more calls, silence text notifications, put the homework away, and spend some time petting the dog, taking a bubble bath, or just relaxing. Getting enough exercise earlier in the day, and ceasing caffeine intake in the late afternoon and evening can also help.
Always On-Call
If it seems like having a whole computer in pocket-sized has created a world where you’re always on-call, the same is likely true for your teenager. Notifications, not just from their social groups but from apps, email, spam callers, and more, can keep rolling in all night.
According to the Brattleboro Informer, a recent study shows that smartphones simply being on and in the vicinity, even if a tween isn’t actively checking notifications, can damage sleep. Having the ringer on raises the risk of disturbed sleep by 25%, and even kids who silence their notifications report less sleep than those who turn the phone entirely off.
Furthermore, having the device available to access increases the length of sleep disruptions — about 1 in 5 teens report spending time on their phone when they wake up in the night.
Tip: Keep The Phone Out Of Reach Overnight
Plugging the phone in overnight in a different room can improve sleep, as can simply turning it off at bedtime. Your teen may insist they need the device for the built-in alarms, but ordinary alarm clocks, corded or battery-powered, are cheap and plentiful.
Turning the phone off will also reduce the risk of an alarm or vibration drawing attention. Teaching your child now that it’s entirely appropriate to be unreachable for 8 (or more) hours per night may also help them maintain the ability to disconnect when desired as adults. (This is another opportunity to teach by example!)
Other Sleep Cycle Interruptions
Kids can come home after a particularly difficult day of school and crash, accidentally take a five-hour nap, and throw their sleep cycle out of whack for days. Changes in exercise and exertion, seasonal changes in light, and changes in school schedules (such as needing extra study time during exam season) can also throw things off.
Temperature changes, nightmares, and sleepwalking can also disrupt rest, as can many of the same issues that can destroy a good night’s sleep for adults, including sleep apnea, insomnia, migraines, and sometimes side effects from medications, Kids Health warns.
Tip: Make The Bedroom A Comfortable Place
Keep the bedroom a comfortable temperature. If needed, consider blackout curtains or other tools to help prevent outdoor lights from disrupting sleep. Where it’s impossible to minimize environmental noise (such as traffic and other outside sounds) consider a fan or white noise machine.
Dr. Esparham even recommends trying earplugs, if necessary. She also suggests trying a soothing lavender scent, and keeping stressful activities, like homework, out of the room. She recommends keeping other daily activities off the bed as well, suggesting that if it is reserved for sleep, a teen’s body will associate being in bed with rest.
Neurodivergence & Other Sleep Struggles
Kids with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, or other neurodivergencies can have further difficulties with sleep, according to the Sleep Foundation. These can include exacerbated forms of the aforementioned difficulties, like stress and delayed sleep sleep cycles.
Mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD can also worsen sleep cycle disruptions for teens and tweens as well as for adults.
For these kids, the lack of sleep may also make their day-to-day symptoms and struggles worse. This results in a cycle of exacerbated difficulties in night and daytime.
Tip: Be Willing To Seek Additional Help & Resources
If you and your child have tried to implement methods including sleeping in a quiet, cool, dark room, cutting caffeine intake especially in the late afternoon and evening, and addressing stress, but sleep struggles persist, it may be time to enlist more help.
Your child’s pediatrician can be a good source of additional help when your teen’s best efforts to get enough rest are still not cutting it. They’ll be able to screen for any undetected medical issues that could be causing disruptions, offer referrals for mental health if warranted, and oversee any necessary changes in medication (which may even be as simple as moving the time that a current med is taken).
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