Facts - Teens and Sleep

Sleep is food for the brain. During sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. Skipping sleep CAN be harmful -- even deadly, particularly if you are behind the wheel. You can look bad, you may feel moody, and you perform poorly. Sleepiness can make it hard to get along with your family and friends and hurt your scores on school exams, on the court or on the field. Remember: A brain that is hungry for sleep will get it, even when you don’t expect it. For example, drowsiness and falling asleep at the wheel cause more than 100,000 car crashes every year. When you do not get enough sleep, you are more likely to have an accident, injury and/or illness.


Sleep is vital to your well being, as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage the stress of being a teen.

* Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence -- meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00 pm.

* Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough). Most teens DO NOT get enough sleep -– one study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights.

* Teens tend to have irregular sleep patterns across the week -- they typically stay up late and sleep in late on the weekends, which can affect their biological clocks and hurt the quality of their sleep.

* Many teens suffer from treatable sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, insomnia, restless legs syndrome or sleep apnea.

Is snoring while sleeping is harmful to health ?

Snoring is a common problem, especially among men, but it isn’t harmful. Although snoring may be harmless for most people, it can be a symptom of a life threatening sleep disorder called sleep apnea, especially if it is accompanied by severe daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnea is characterized by pauses in breathing that prevent air from flowing into or out of a sleeping person’s airways. People with sleep apnea awaken frequently during the night gasping for breath. The breathing pauses reduce blood oxygen levels, can strain the heart and cardiovascular system, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Snoring on a frequent or regular basis has been directly associated with hypertension.

Obesity and a large neck can contribute to sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can be treated; men and women who snore loudly, especially if pauses in the snoring are noted, should consult a physician.

Tips for healthy sleep for Women

Almost 40 million American men and women are suffering from sleep disorders.

However, sleep problems affect mostly women comparing to men.

Here are some tips that may help you get a better night's sleep, if you have difficulty with your sleep for any reason:

1. Exercise regularly, but finish your workout at least three hours before bedtime. Exercise may relieve some PMS symptoms and increase the amount of deep sleep.

2. Avoid foods and drinks high in sugar (including honey, syrup), caffeine (coffee, colas, tea, chocolate), and alcohol before bedtime. Caffeine and alcohol disturb sleep. Caffeine can also contribute to premenstrual bloating. Nicotine may make it difficult to fall asleep and lead to fragmented sleep. It can also put you at risk for cancer and heart disease. Avoid large meals and limit fluid intake before bed. Try a healthy snack so you are not too full or too hungry.

3. Try to have a standard relaxing bedtime routine and keep regular sleep times. Make sure your bedroom is dark, cool and quiet and that your pillows, sleep surface and coverings provide you with comfort.

4. For reducing PMS symptoms such as bloating, irritability and breast tenderness or other problems, consult your health-care professional.

Healthy Sleep - A key to healthy living

A good sleep is a basic necessity of life, as important to our health and well-being as air, food and water. When we sleep well, we wake up feeling refreshed, alert and ready to face daily challenges. When we don't, every part of our lives can suffer. Our jobs, relationships, productivity, health and safety (and that of those around us) are all put at risk. And lack of sleep due to sleep loss or sleep disorders is taking a serious toll.

Here are the few tips about healthy sleeping.

How Can I Keep Stress From Interfering With My Sleep?

Attaining quality sleep is very important to your physical and emotional health, as well as your personal productivity, for many reasons. Unfortunately, many people find that stress affects their sleep. This article explains how, and provides useful information and resources to help you reduce stress and get more quality sleep right away.

Power Napping for Increased Productivity, Stress Management and Health

You may have heard that you 'need' 7-8 hours of sleep to be at your best, but do you know why? And what happens if you don't get that sleep at night? Learn about the benefits of sleep and the power nap, and find out how power napping can help you manage stress, stay healthy, and be more productive at work and in your life!

Things You Need for a Better Night's Sleep

According to a poll on this site, too many of us are getting too little sleep--to the point of being less productive, more stressed, and even dangerous on the road! The following sleep promoting products and ideas can help you start getting the quality sleep you need. Let these sleep aids help you improve your sleep quality and improve your life!

How Much Sleep Do You Get?

Sleep is important for stress management, productivity, and overall healthy functioning. But how many people get the recommended 7-8 hours per night? (Do you?) Tell us how many hours of sleep you generally get, and see how much everyone else is getting.

Great Ways to End Your Day

Sleep is vital for productivity, health, stress management and overall wellbeing. However, those of us who need better sleep the most--the busy and the stressed--tend to get less of it than they need! Here are some healthy habits to get into, to promote better sleep and keep you healthy and happy.

What is nasty criticism and how to handle it

Nasty criticism

• It’s antagonistic, covertly hostile and sarcastic
• It usually comes faster than constructive criticism because the person giving it hasn’t really thought about anything before running off his fat mouth
• It is often personal or directed at a personality and not the project
• It is not results-oriented and makes you more confused than you were to begin with
• It takes the wind out of your sails and makes you wish the whole project were dead
• It leaves you with a feeling of mystery and confusion on how to move forward
• You sort of wonder if maybe you were just insulted
• Lots of adjectival opinions will be expressed
• You say stuff about yourself afterwards like, “I’m not good at taking criticism,” or “I need to lighten up a bit,” or “Nah…I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.” (He did.)
• Instead of thank you, you feel like saying “I hope a Portuguese Man-of-War slides itself in your left eye socket. While you’re being hit by a bus. In hell.”

Take nasty criticism is also very neat and tidy:

1. Don’t

Seriously, I’m not being flippant. For a change.

If someone has nothing to offer the conversation but his bad attitude, excuse yourself. As I said earlier, we’ve all got a lot to do to achieve our goals. There’s no reason to waste our time.

This seems anti-social. “Everybody’s entitled to share their opinion,” is the politically correct thinking behind this. “You should give everyone a kind ear.”

But why? If you lived next to a factory that endlessly belched out carcinogenic smoke into your living room windows, you’d move. Why can’t you move if some jerk is belching out insults? It’s understood that people have the right to communicate. That means there must also be a right to not communicate if you don’t wish to.

And besides, there’s nothing as anti-social as trying to cut apart another person’s handiwork with the intention of making them feel awful.

Yes, everyone has the right to talk. And everyone has the right not to listen to a word of it.

5 Facts You MUST Understand to reduce you belly

1. Many so-called "health foods" are actually cleverly disguised junk foods that actually stimulate you to gain more belly fat... yet the diet food marketing industry continues to lie to you so they can maximize their profits.

2. Ab exercises like crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are the LEAST effective method of getting flat six pack abs. We'll explore what types of exercises REALLY work in a minute.

3. Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines are NOT the best way to lose body fat and uncover those six pack abs. I'll show you the exact types of unique workouts that produce 10x better results below.

4. You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive "extreme fat burner" pills (that don't work) or other bogus supplements. A special class of natural foods is much more effective. I'll tell you about these natural foods and their powers below.

5. Ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Despite the misleading infomercials, the perfectly chiseled fitness models in the commercials did NOT get their perfect body by using that "ab contraption"... they got their perfect body through REAL workouts and REAL nutrition strategies. Again, you'll learn some of their secrets and what really works below.