Ever feel as if when you wake up you need to go back to sleep? Too tired to make it through the beginning of the day, but by the end you can’t seem to get the rest you were looking for over 12 hours ago? It’s okay, this occurs to just about everyone in the ages of 13 to 18. On average, a Teenager will get between 7 and 7 ¼ hours of sleep, where they really need to get between 9 and 9 ¼ hours of sleep every night. Many variables factor into why Teens aren’t getting the sleep they need each night, whether it is socializing such as any after school activities, homework, or even how early school starts in the morning.

This lack of sleep has negative effects on the Teenager’s ability and performance in school and daily life; mood can change to become more irritated, and may have trouble regulating their mood, increase in their drowsiness, alter their academic performance overall from dropping grades, tardiness, absences, and even affect their cognitive ability. In other words, problems with attention, concentration, memory, and decision making will occur.

Though no matter how hard you try, you can never seem to get the kind of sleep that is needed to keep your energy throughout the day. If this is true, then maybe you haven’t tried everything. Here is a list of things that you can try out to hopefully get some valuable rest:

• Don’t Oversleep on Weekends– Oversleeping on the weekends puts your sleeping schedule off-balance, and if you oversleep on a Sunday it can be difficult to wake up early on Monday morning.
• Turn Off the Electronics– Using any sort of device in bed before you go to sleep can affect when you go to sleep. Your cell phone emits Blue light, which can trick your brain into thinking that it’s daytime, even when it is (and you know it is) nighttime. My advice to you is to put away the cell phone no less than an hour before you go to sleep, or download an app on the device that can change the lighting settings of the screen.
• Maintain a Regular Sleep Schedule– Related to not oversleeping on the weekends, try to go to bed around the same time as the previous nights instead of going to sleep at 9 pm one night, then 1 am the next.

Source of information: http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/sleep-in-adolescents