It has been felt for some time now that inadequate or poor quality sleep in teens leads to a fall in performance at school, however it was not until quite recently that a study confirmed that teenage children with bad sleeping habits do indeed have lower grades.
Below are 10 simple tips to make sure that an otherwise healthy child can get the level of sleep needed to perform well in school.*� Although teenagers will generally spend a lot of time in their bedroom turning it into much more of a ‘living’ than a ‘sleeping’ room, avoid the temptation to use the bed for anything other than sleeping. Do not sit in bed, watching TV, reading, playing games, writing or anything else but reserve it only for sleeping so that your body associates climbing into bed with going to sleep.*� Stay away from any type of drink that contains caffeine after 3 o�clock in the afternoon. This of course means tea and coffee, but also includes colas and chocolate drinks.*� Avoid vigorous exercise within several hours of bedtime. If you wish to play football or engage in other sports or vigorous activities then make sure that you do these shortly after school and not an hour or two before you go to bed.*� Do not be tempted to take a nap in the afternoon after school. Should you find that you are so tired you are unable to keep your eyes open then go ahead and take a nap but for no more than an hour.*� Make sure that you get up at the same time every morning, whether or not it is a school day. Teenagers generally get up late on weekends and during the school holidays and, instead of helping to make you feel better, this simply disrupts your sleep pattern.*� Should you find that you are unable to fall asleep within say 15 minutes of getting into bed then do not merely lie in bed trying to get to sleep, because the more you try the more difficult it will get. Instead, get up and do something such as reading a book or listening to some relaxing music. Once you begin to feel tired, get back into bed and you should fall asleep in next to no time.*� Avoid eating a heavy meal close to bedtime. You obviously do not want to go to bed feeling hungry and having a light snack prior to bedtime is okay, however going to bed on a full stomach can make it difficult for you to fall asleep and affect the quality of your sleep.*� Set a regular time for going to bed and do not vary this by more than a matter of a few minutes from one day to the next.*� When it comes to bedtime see that the bedroom is quiet, dark and cool. Do not shut your bedroom up, turn up the heat and get into bed to watch TV. Instead, lower the heat, open the window a bit if possible to allow in some fresh air and have the room as dark as possible.*� Avoid the temptation to stay up late doing homework or getting ready for a test. Although this might appear to be the answer to a particular problem in the short term, and may well keep you out of trouble for turning in your homework late or see you through a test, in the long run your overall performance will suffer and any short term benefits will quickly be lost.
If you follow these 10 tips you will find that within next to no time the quality of your sleep will improve, you will feel much more awake and active during the day and your school grades will improve.