Being consistent in your sleep and wake time is important to get your circadian rhythm aligned. Even on the weekends, students should try maintaining their school-day sleep schedule.
Senior Wendell He has had trouble sleeping for as long as they can remember. They believe this comes from various factors — they fall asleep often during the day causing them to not sleep well at night. Wendell’s sleep problems are common, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70% of teenagers struggle with their sleep.
Impacted by many things, U-High students struggle with their sleep, be it from going to sleep too late, not having a consistent and good sleep routine, or other external factors.
Wendell’s issues are mainly caused by environmental factors that trigger sleep during the day due to fatigue, then causing them to not sleep well at night. They’ve tried different remedies — warm milk, melatonin supplements, even sleeping positions — yet, their poor sleep cycle prevails.
Margaret Kay-Stacey, a neurologist and sleep specialist at UChicago Medicine, might have the solution. She says there could be numerous reasons for the lack of quality sleep with teenagers, but the overarching issue is that people underestimate how much sleep they need.
“You never want to just disregard it and say, ‘Oh, well, this is like how I am,’” She said. “There could be something more going on and you want to know whether or not there could be something like a primary sleep condition happening versus an underlying medical condition that could be causing symptoms.”
People with medical conditions around sleep may find that they become concerned with exhibiting symptoms, causing them to not want to go to bed. Napping throughout the day could seem like a good way to combat fatigue, but it actually harms your nighttime sleep.
“You have this homeostatic pressure for sleep that builds throughout the day,” Dr. Kay-Stacey said, “and when you take naps you actually then kind of reduce some of that pressure, and so sometimes then when you’re sort of ready to go to sleep at night, your homeostatic pressure for sleep and your circadian rhythm might be malaligned, and that it may make it more challenging.”
Dr. Kay-Stacey said to combat poor sleep, students should have a set bed routine and be aware of outside stimuli such as food and blue light exposure. She also said that you shouldn’t be in bed if you’re not going to sleep, if you’re having trouble sleeping don’t linger in bed, and try to not read or study in bed.
If these things don’t help aid in students’ sleep, there are also therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia that can help find solutions to poor rest and fatigue.
