It is extraordinary how many adults do not sleep enough and complain about low mood, low energy and weight gain, all consequences of poor sleep. Now imagine we’re talking about growing teenagers who researchers say need 9 hours’ sleep to function properly.  A consequence of hormonal changes and spending many hours on addictive screen technologies such as smart phones, means that this generation of teenagers and underslept and suffering the consequences. Research has shown that teenagers generally tend to have later nights because of hormonal changes but this trend is exacerbated by constant stimulation from TVs, computer screens and social networking. These activities heighten alertness which means that teenagers are able to stay up later due to the stimulation but also find it harder to fall asleep following these activities.

Research in Scottish schools has found that 20% of teenagers fall asleep in class and 52% are regularly under-slept.  Lack of sleep affects memory consolidation and growth.