Have you ever wondered why you are more lazy as a pre-teen/teenager recently?

All humans have a “natural body clock” that causes you to wake up and fall asleep! So why are teenagers’ natural body clocks set differently? 

For the most part, it’s not teenagers’ fault that they wake up at different times and are always tired. Because most parents don’t know about the “teenager body clock”, it may cause them to think that their child is lazy, or unmotivated. Although it seems like you can’t fix this problem, learning about additional factors that cause you to fall asleep and adjusting to this can make a huge difference. Let’s explore the factors that cause teenagers to feel sleepy and learn how to adjust to them! 

The “natural body clock”, also known as the “circadian rhythm” is affected through hormones, melatonin, adenosine, and cortisone. Melatonin is the part that puts you into a deep sleep. Cortisone is also a big factor because it causes REM sleep which is the phase where we dream, and then wake up! Another is Adenosine! Adenosine builds during the day, winding us down and making us feel tired. Although everyone has a different circadian rhythm, it typically shifts as we grow up. Children are typically born with an early circadian rhythm, but when they hit puberty, their melatonin and cortisol kick in later causing their bodies to react less to light and sleep 2 hours later! This is called the “delayed sleep phase”!

Social jet-lag

Because school is so early, it can cause many problems due to this “delayed sleep”! This causes teenagers to sleep less during weekdays and more during weekends. This is a phenomenon known as Social Jet lag. Sleeping less on school days can lead to many problems such as memory loss in many subjects, a worsening of regulating emotions due to less REM sleep, more stress, and also obesity (when you sleep less at night, you start to eat more during the day)!

Excessive screen time 

Using too much technology also causes us to sleep late. Although it is not good that school forces us to spend more time on our devices, it can also partly be our fault. Spending time on your device can be way easier than you think. When you get home from school, just like that you can pick up your device and scroll for hours. This could also happen at night when you pick up your phone before you go to sleep. As a result, it causes you to hold off on your main tasks and sleep later. Fortunately, there are many ways to fix this, starting off with finishing your homework right when you get back from school and also making a schedule.

Time management 

Although you can’t change a teen’s natural body clock, you can create better habits to make your teen life easier! As you have learned, sleeping less can cause many problems. This also tells us that sleeping more can get rid of many problems. Making a schedule is a great start to getting more sleep. Even though you can’t fully change a teen’s natural clock, you can slowly start to sleep earlier, resulting in waking up a bit earlier with more rest to start your day! This mostly starts with your phone usage and time management. A great schedule may suggest that you finish all of your homework and chores right after you get home from school, second- hang out with your family or go outside, third- prepare for the next day, and occasionally use your device for entertainment but make sure it’s no more than an hour!! After this, go to bed early and wake up at a reasonable time resulting in a full rest! This can really help you eliminate many problems and also cause you to have less stress.

All in all, teenagers have a natural clock that causes many problems due to the time that school starts! Being a teenager with this natural clock can affect you in many ways like memory loss, stress, and less focus. That is why getting rid of bad habits can help take away most of these problems. Getting rid of bad habits can be eliminated by growing factors such as having a schedule, getting things done right away, and spending less time on our devices.

Have you heard of the teenager-circadian rhythm(natural body clock) before? Leave a comment down below!

Resources:

Circadian Rhythms: Why Teens Are Tired in School