Sleep is an extremely important – and quite underestimated – part of a good and healthy life. This is indeed the case for teenagers and adolescents, whos brains are under dramatic reconstruction. Bad sleep in teenagers and young adults is associated with a lot of mental, physical and social problems.
Unfortunately, the proportion of young people experiencing sleep problems is increasing in many countries (including Denmark, as seen in the report referenced below).
But how is it possible to help a teenager (or oneself) to sleep better? I have tried to summarize this in this infographic with 9 good advices/tips. The tips are from the article artiklen “Sleep in adolescence: physiology, cognition and mental health” by Tarokh et al., 2016.
One reason that sleep is so important in teenagers and adolescents is the dramatic changes, that take place in the function and structure of the brain during these years. For instance, the ‘pruning’ of synaptic connections that are not used frequently. And the ‘strengthening’ of the connections that are used frequently. Watch my animation about this brain remodelling in adolescents.
You can also watch my animation that describes how the so-called glymphatic system rinses our brain during sleep and thereby reduces the risk of getting dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Find it here.
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27531236/
https://www.sdu.dk/da/sif/rapporter/2020/unges_soevnvaner