With sleep deprivation known to affect everything from your attention span to your planning and problem-solving skills and behaviour, re-establishing a good sleep routine is vital in the back to school countdown.
Sleep deprivation affects every aspect of your life, from friends and family relationships to school performance and your general mood. So, by ensuring you get plenty of good quality and quantity of sleep each night, you can ensure you are at your very best!
As the school holidays draw to a close, sleep routines have gone to pot for many, with weeks of late nights, lie-ins and holidays/days out. But here’s how you can help…
Have A Balanced Diet
Eating well throughout the day not only helps look after your weight and energy levels, but it also has a positive impact on your sleep. Eat regularly, keep food options healthy and try to limit how many caffeine drinks you have. It can be tempting to reach for a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar as a bedtime snack, but try to avoid the temptation and instead choose something like low sugar cereal and milk, bananas, cherries and even cheese.
Make the Bedroom Environment Right
Let’s face it, teenagers’ bedrooms aren’t always the most relaxing of places! Did you know that a tidy bedroom does help you sleep? You may not be able to make the bedroom a complete clutter-free zone but try to keep it as tidy as possible. Put clothes away, dirty cups in the dishwasher and tidy your working area. An ideal bedroom environment needs to be free of distractions, cool, quiet and dark and you should be sleeping on a comfortable bed.
Encourage Regular Exercise
Instead of sitting around gaming, make time for exercise – whatever you enjoy doing most. Working out effectively gradually tires your body, promoting a better night’s sleep. Releasing pent -up tension through exercise is also highly beneficial, helping to reduce stress before bedtime. Exercising is also followed by a drop in your body’s temperature, which aids better sleep. So haul your bum off the sofa and away from gaming and the TV and make time for 30 minutes of exercise a day.
More Top Tips
You may have found that your bedtime has slipped over the summer holidays and you’re waking up later – this is quite natural for teenagers but unfortunately doesn’t quite fit in with the normal school day! If you’re not due back to school for another week or more, try hitting the sack 15 minutes earlier every three nights to get back into a normal sleeping pattern. Keep a consistent wake up time too.
We know you want to talk on SnapChat and dance on Tik Tok but sometimes it’s really good to turn them off – for your mental health but also your sleep. You could also consider a ‘digital detox’ for the next few evenings. Using screens before bed can double the length of time it takes you to fall asleep, as it suppresses the production of your sleep hormone, melatonin. Read or listen to music instead.
