The long running narrative for teenagers is that they don't need sleep. They're invincible, right? Wrong. New research has found that tweens and teens go through a sort of regression and really need about as much sleep as a toddler.
But that's not how we treat them. High schools start super early in the morning, teachers still give hours of homework, and after school sports/programs are so much more important for college applications than ever before. Sleep continues to fall down on the priority list but it should be at the top.
So many things are tied to sleep. Teens that get 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night tend to have better grades, less anxiety and depression and so many other characteristics.
How do we foster good sleep habits in our teens? Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright are here to help with their book 'Generation Sleepless: Why Tweens and Teens Aren't Sleeping Enough and How We Can Help Them'. I caught up with Heather for this episode of Adult Education.