You've probably been there before - it's late at night, you're lying in bed, and you just can't fall asleep. Every time you look at your alarm clock, you start to panic. How can you still be awake at this hour? Maybe you have a big test the next day or an important basketball game against your school's rival. Maybe tomorrow's just a regular day in school, but you just can't deal with the knowledge of how wiped out you'll be - and how tough it will be to concentrate in your classes and keep up with your friends. But no matter how hard you try, you just can't fall asleep. Help!

How Much Sleep Do I Need?

You're not the only one who has trouble functioning without a good night's sleep. Everyone - from infants to older adults - needs a certain amount of sleep to be alert and get through the day. Without that sleep, symptoms like irritability, inability to concentrate, and even depression are common.

But teens - lucky you! - actually need even more sleep than any other age group because of everything going on with their bodies. How much more? Studies show that most teens need about 9 hours of sleep a night. Unfortunately, there's also evidence that few teens actually get close to that during a typical school night. In fact, only 15% of teens even sleep as many as 8 1/2 hours a night, and more than 25% sleep less than 7 hours. Yikes.

Because quality sleep provides numerous health benefits to keep your body and mind working right, this is a serious problem. What's really scary is that not getting enough sleep can do more than just leave you feeling foggy the next day. You've been warned how dangerous it is to drive after drinking alcohol, but has anyone told you what can happen if you get behind the wheel when you're really tired? Exhaustion is a major factor in car accidents, and drivers under the age of 25 actually have the highest risk of getting into an accident for this reason.

So now you know that sleep matters and that many teens probably aren't getting enough of it. But why not? Teens who can't fall asleep are experiencing a problem called insomnia, which has many possible causes.

Why Can't I Sleep?

If you're like most teens, your life is incredibly busy. Maybe you're balancing classes, extracurricular activities, friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend, and a part-time job, too. It's a lot to handle, and it can leave you feeling stressed. As tough as it can be, it's important to go easy on yourself and take a break sometimes. You might not even realize how stressed you are. Constantly running from one place to another and worrying about everything you have to do can cause tension to build up in your body. And one of the ways this tension can come out is by keeping you from sleeping at night.

Another possible cause of insomnia is having to go through major changes in your life. Have you recently moved, changed schools, or experienced a sad event like a divorce or death in the family? Just as your mind is having trouble adjusting to this shift, your body is, too.

Even when everything seems to be going smoothly, you still can't escape nature! Teens' bodies are actually wired for different sleep patterns than kids' or adults' bodies. During these years, your body wants to stay up later and sleep later because of natural changes in your circadian (pronounced: sir-kay-dee-en) rhythm. This rhythm is a "program" that comes from your brain and acts as an internal clock to tell you when you should feel tired. But you're forced to fight this built-in desire because you have to wake up early for school. Unfair, right?

It's common for most people to have a night of insomnia here or there. This is called transient insomnia. But if you have trouble sleeping repeatedly (like every few weeks you have 2 or more nights in a row where you can't get to sleep), it is then called intermittent insomnia. If insomnia lasts for a month or longer, it is then classified by doctors as chronic insomnia. Chronic insomnia is usually the result of a sleep disorder, including sleep apnea, a condition where breathing is disrupted throughout the night during sleep. Anyone with chronic insomnia should be checked by a doctor, and sometimes a visit to a sleep clinic can help.

Sleep Solutions

Here's the good news about insomnia. There are actually lots of simple solutions that can help you get a peaceful night's sleep.

First, try to make sure your bedroom is set up as a place that encourages you to sleep - especially during the hours you need to sleep the most. Try to avoid doing things like homework or eating snacks in bed. Make sure the temperature in your room is comfortable - a room that is too warm or too cold could keep you wide awake all night! Your body takes its sleep cues from whether it's light or dark, so keep the room as dark as possible at night, and let in light first thing in the morning.

Give yourself a little de-stressing ritual before bed to help you relax. Avoid scary movies, loud music, and action-packed TV shows, and, instead, try something peaceful like writing in a journal. Once you're in bed, counting backward from 100 with your eyes closed can ease your mind into sleep.

Regular exercise can help you sleep better, but only if you make sure to do it well before bedtime. Also, stop drinking anything with caffeine (such as soda or coffee) before dinnertime. Even the amount of caffeine in a can of soda can keep you wide awake.

Set up a pattern of getting to bed about the same time every night and waking up around the same time every morning. As hard as it may seem, stick close to that schedule on weekends, too. Another good lesson to teach your body is that your bed is for sleeping, not tossing and turning. If you've been in bed for more than 30 minutes without falling asleep, try getting up and doing some quiet reading or writing to calm down your mind. Return to bed when you're sleepy.
If you've tried all of this and you're still regularly having insomnia, it's time to talk to a parent. Together, maybe you can figure out what's making it so hard for you to sleep. One idea is to keep a sleep journal where you write down everything you do each day and whether you slept well that night, so you can see if anything stands out about the times where you couldn't sleep. A trip to a doctor is the smart next step.

If a sleep disorder like sleep apnea is diagnosed, the doctor will give you appropriate treatments, like a mask to wear while you sleep that helps you to breathe better. The most important thing to remember about insomnia is that even though it's no fun to experience, it's not something you have to live with - there are lots of ways to ensure a good night's sleep.

Fun Facts About Sleep

Sleep does a lot more for you than just restore your energy levels. Research has shown that a lack of quality sleep can reduce your body's ability to fight infection, leaving you more likely to catch that cold that's going around. Insomnia also changes the way your body digests what you've eaten, and can mess up your eating habits. Just a few more reasons to make sure you're getting enough sleep!

Do you and your friends brag about pulling all-nighters? Because staying up all night to cram for a test will actually hurt your chances of doing well and not just because it makes you tired. Deep sleep is when your brain gets a chance to rehearse and memorize everything you just crammed into it. This means if you stop studying by a decent hour and get a solid night's sleep, you'll definitely learn and remember better!

Ever wondered why your grandparents seem to have no problem getting up at the crack of dawn? It's a myth that older people don't need as much sleep as younger folks. What is true is that they tend to sleep less hours at a time, and their internal clock causes them to fall asleep earlier and awaken earlier in the day.

Reviewed by: Eduardo J. Riff, MD
Date reviewed: May 2002