Sleep is a paradoxical element of health. Typically, there is no advice on how to
sleep ―better. On the rare occasion when doctors address sleep, they might
offer, ―Get the sleep you need. But how much does an ―average adult need?
Six hours? Seven? Ten? Among teenagers, this becomes even more ambiguous.
Lay ideas about sleep requirements abound and often conflict with researchers
findings that teens should be sleeping more than 9 hours per night. ―Be able to
wake without an alarm in the morning is good advice for getting adequate
sleep, but this is likely to require going to bed at a time when many other things
are happening, including engaging in activities outside the home like sports or
other recreation, completing schoolwork, eating dinner, watching TV,
communicating with friends or simply talking with your family.
Most adolescents need slightly more than 9 hours of sleep each night, although
this varies slightly among individuals. Sufficient sleep is the amount necessary
to permit optimal daytime functioning.
The two most significant signs that indicate that an adolescent probably had
insufficient sleep include the changes in mood and decreased motivation, which
often result in emotional and behavioural difficulties.
College students tend to sleep typically late at night, and hence, wake up later.
Thus, a majority of them manifest symptoms of delayed sleep wake syndrome
which is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) leading to poor
scholastic performance.
