Teenagers who don’t get enough sleep have four times the normal risk of depression, according to a study from the University of Texas. Many young people in North America stay up late, often socializing over the internet and not getting the recommended nine to 10 hours sleep they need.
Late night group chats
“I see this with my private practice with teens,” says Nicole McCance, Toronto psychotherapist and author of 52 Ways to Beat Depression Naturally. “A lot of them are having things like groups chats. So they’ll be on their phones up until like one in the morning. So they’re just not getting enough sleep because they have to get up so early to go to school.”
One teen recently reported that she got up at two o’clock in the morning to check her phone and found she had missed 24 texts from a group text. “So it’s this feeling that if I go to sleep I’m leaving the party. It’s almost like this sense of a virtual party where there’s this group of people and if you leave you’re missing out on what feels like a good time,” explains McCance.
Lack of sleep linked to anxiety, depression
An increasing number of patients who consult McCance are sleep deprived and also anxious, depressed and suffering general behavioural difficulties. She says it can be difficult to tell the difference between normal teenage malaise and depression. In such cases she suggests parents talk to their children about the risks associated with a lack of sleep, and to help them improve their sleeping habits.
Many Canadian teens spend a lot of time on their beds in their own rooms. McCance suggests it is better for them to not do that so that bed becomes firmly associated with sleep. If students get up earlier, they are likely to get tired and go to bed earlier. She suggests 10pm is optimal for this age group. Electronic devices should be turned off one hour before bed and she says soft music could help. Teens should avoid napping and make sure their rooms are dark.
‘Sleep is food for the brain’
She acknowledges it can be difficult to get teens to make these changes, but is easier if teens understand how important sleep is for them. “The teen brain is still developing and sleep is food for the brain…just letting teens know that because teens have this sense of … ‘Well I’ll catch up on the weekend on my sleep’ but it’s actually a fallacy. We can’t catch up on our sleep.”
The issue is an important one in McCance’s view. “Depression is on the rise and hardly any teen, I don’t know a teen who is getting nine to 10 hours of sleep.”
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.