Sleep problems are common amongst our young people. Many are not getting enough sleep and are chronically tired. Teenagers on average need between 9-10 hours of sleep every night (from teens to early 20’s) and their lifestyles are often not conducive to this. Chronic sleep deprivation can affect a teen’s academic and sporting performance and may increase their risk of emotional problems such as depression.

Hectic after school activities and commitments, internet, phones, texting, Facebook, and television can all eat into valuable sleep time. Lack of sleep can lead to problems with concentration, irritability, short attention span, skin problems, aggression, moodiness, increased risk of accidents, falling asleep in class, and an increase health problems such as risk of obesity, snoring and sleep apnoea.

The biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for sleeping and waking during adolescence and that means it is natural for many adolescents to not be able to fall asleep before 11 pm. However school commitments do not match natural biological rhythms with young people needing to be awake around 7am most mornings. So in any given week, young people are losing 1-2 hours of sleep a day, leaving them sleep deprived by the end of each week.

Our Psychologists are trained in assessing and treating sleep problems.

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