indadequate sleep hygiene in adolescents
Last reviewed 11/2020
- the most common paediatric sleep-wake problem encountered by general practitioners
- there are various reasons why inadequate sleep hygiene is a problem in adolescents (1)
- teenagers are unable to fall asleep before 10 30 or 11 pm owing to a physiological shift in the timing of release of melatonin (which generally induces sleep at around 8 30 pm in preadolescence)
- social factors e.g. after-school sports, evening jobs, television, internet use, mobile phones, and homework may delay bedtime on school nights to between 11 pm and midnight
- drug-induced effects
- caffeine, nicotine, and illicit drugs may also interfere with timely sleep onset
- school
day
- adolescents may have to wake early in order to travel to school.
- poor sleep hygiene in this group is in the context of teenagers needing 9-9.5 hours of sleep to maintain optimum alertness
- management consists primarily of counselling about sleep hygiene
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