Are you getting enough sleep?

According to a recent study,teens nowadays might not be getting enough sleep.The study concluded that most teens probably don't get enough sleep and suffer in their school work because their internal clocks make them night owls.It means that your school work is affected because you usually stay awake till late at night,which should not be happening.

Researchers in Australia showed the average teenager misses more than an hour of sleep each night and is forced to wake up 2.5 hours earlier than his or her natural rhythms would dictate.In fact,high school students with a late-night "circadian preference," as the biologically driven cycle is called,reported doing more poorly in school,and feeling more frequently depressed and unhappy.The study also said that the hormonal changes that kick in at the start of adolescence is another reason why young people start to stay up later and given the chance wake up later too.Teenagers are found to be most alert in the evening and do not feel sleepy until later,and so find it difficult to get enough sleep during school term.This is mainly due to a hormone called,melatonin,that signals to the body that it needs rest and sleep.In teenagers entering puberty,it is released later and later in the evening.Another interesting finding that could explain why this trend is happening is due to environmental factors.Ambient light tends to minimize the amount of melatonin secreted,and the constant use of computers could keep adolescents up past their natural bedtime,even after lights are turned out.So what parents can do is to dim down the lights,and switch off the computers or televisions an hour before bedtime.

So you may wonder then,what exactly is the optimal amount of sleep time for us teenagers? Well,previous research has shown that nine hours of sleep should be enough.So if you have to wake up at 6am,then you go to bed at 9pm,and so on you do the maths yourself.I honestly do not know that there is actually a hormone is our body that help to control our sleeping and resting time.I agree with the fact that if we do not get enough time to sleep,we wake up the next day feeling more unhappy and depressed,it has happened to me before.And I could not agree more that the environment plays a huge role in deciding whether we are getting enough sleep time or not.I do not exactly have a specific bedtime,my parents do not decide it for me,I decide it for myself,so I can sleep anytime I want which is kind of dangerous I guess because I always go to sleep around 12 to 1 in the morning because I always like to play the games on my PlayStation before I go to sleep.Im sure some of you have the same problem too,maybe not with PS but with your computers or television.But the good thing for me,I manage to wake up early at around 8.30am,so I slept around for roughly 8 hours,just nice.

I also know some of you have other reason for sleeping late,because you are suffering from problems such as insomnia,which is term call for trouble of falling or staying asleep.The most common cause of insomnia is stress.But all sorts of things can lead to insomnia,including physical discomfort (a cold for example),emotional troubles (like family problems or relationship difficulties),and even an uncomfortable sleeping environment (a room that is too hot/cold).It's common for everyone to have insomnia from time to time.I have experienced it before.But if insomnia lasts for a month or longer with no relief,then doctors consider it chronic.You should then meet up with the doctor or counselor for further advice.I do not have any advice for you to fall asleep.I dont believe in the counting of sheeps.If I cannot fall asleep,I would usually close my eyes and free my mind of everything.It takes time but the next time you open your eyes,its morning already.So there you go.Some reason why teenagers nowadays are getting less bedtime and why they are going to bed late.Our brains need to function well if we want to do our work well the next day and you can do that by having enough time to sleep.So remember,try not to sleep late at night unless it is really neccessary of course,and if you cant sleep,please dont take the sleeping pills,just try to do something that really bores you,it might help.And if you can,try not to fall asleep in class.