What's keeping you from the sleep you need?
	Test Your Sleep IQ Did You Know? 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 eat better and manage the stress of being a teen. During adolescence, biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking — it's natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11 p.m. Teens need about nine hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, eight 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. Drowsy driving is as dangerous as drunk driving: When you're sleep deprived, you're as impaired as driving with a blood alcohol content of .08%, which is illegal for drivers in many states. Drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 crashes each year. Recognize sleep deprivation and call someone else for a ride. Teens tend to have irregular sleep patterns across the week—they typically stay up late and sleep late on weekends, which can affect their biological clock and hurt the quality of their sleep. Many teens suffer from treatable sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, or sleep apnea. You can't fake staying awake: No pills, vitamins, or drinks can replace good sleep.

Snooze Alert!
Getting a Good Night's Sleep is More Important Than You Think

By Ruthe Farmer, staff writer

Keira J. gets up each day at 6:30 a.m., showers, grabs a quick breakfast, and boards the bus for school at 7:30. After a long day of school, soccer practice, homework, and a little prime-time TV, she falls into bed around 11 p.m. Keira is typical of most teenagers—she is sleep deprived. The National Sleep Foundation recommends nine hours of sleep each night for teens, but only 15% of teens nationwide report sleeping eight hours or more each night.

Running on Empty

Sleep is food for the brain. During sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. In the greater scheme of things, sleep is right up there with food, water, and shelter. It can be tempting to sacrifice sleep to squeeze studying and other activities into an already full day. But less sleep does not equal more time. Research shows that sleep deprivation in teens—even if you are consistently getting only a few hours less than you need each night—can impair your ability to learn and hurt your overall performance.

Research shows that sleep deprivation impairs your:

• Ability to pay attention
• Verbal creativity and effective communication
• Abstract thinking
• Creative problem-solving and innovation
• Mental sharpness (the sleep-deprived person is more vulnerable to misleading remarks and has more difficulty with complex, ambiguous material)
• Overall mood and motivation
• Decision-making involving the unexpected
• Adaptive learning—that means retrieving knowledge from long-term memory, adding to that knowledge, and using it to solve problems

Studies also show that after a person learns new information, there is activity in the same area of the brain during sleep, and there is improvement in memory performance when the person is tested the next day. So getting a good night's sleep after learning something new is a crucial step in organizing new information and strengthening recent memories.

Become a Varsity Sleeper

Here are some tips for getting a good night's sleep:

• Organize your life for sleep: Make sleep a priority. Keep a sleep diary: When do you sleep well? When don't you? What do you need to change to get enough sleep to stay healthy, happy, and smart?
• Grab a quick pick-me-up: Naps can help pick you up and make you work more efficiently, if you plan them right. Naps that are too long or too close to bedtime can interfere with your regular sleep.
• Create the right space: Make your room a sleep haven. Keep it cool, quiet, and dark. If you need to, get eyeshades or blackout curtains. Let in bright light in the morning to signal your body to wake up.
• Can the caffeine: Consuming caffeine close to bedtime can hurt your sleep, so avoid coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate late in the day so you can sleep at night. Nicotine and alcohol will also interfere with your sleep.
• Keep it constant: Establish your bedtime and wake-time and stick to them, coming as close as you can on weekends. A consistent sleep schedule will help you feel less tired since it allows your body to get in sync with its natural patterns. You will find that it's easier to fall asleep at bedtime with this type of routine.
• Prepare your body: Don't eat, drink, or exercise within a few hours of your bedtime. Don't leave your homework for the last minute. Try to avoid the TV, computer, and telephone in the hour before you go to bed. Stick to quiet, calm activities, and you'll fall asleep much more easily.
• Create a bedtime ritual: If you do the same things every night before you go to sleep, you teach your body the signals that it's time for bed. Try taking a bath or shower (this will leave you extra time in the morning), or reading a book.
• Leave stress out of it: Try keeping a diary or regular to-do lists. If you jot notes down before you go to sleep, you'll be less likely to stay awake worrying or stressing.
• Understand your body: Most teens experience changes in their sleep schedules. Their internal body clocks can cause them to fall asleep and wake up later. You can't change this, but you can participate in activities and classes to help counteract your sleepiness. Make sure your activities at night are calming to counteract your already heightened alertness.