Consequences of not getting enough sleep in adolescents

Sleep is an essential part of human development during adolescence. In our today's article, we'll explain the consequences of not getting enough sleep at this stage of your life.

Sleeping is an activity that we do automatically every day. It is a very important factor in the successful regeneration of the mind and body. Sleep is fundamental to every person, but it is especially important to those in the early years of development and adolescence. That's why we've put together this particular article to cover this important topic. These are the consequences of adolescents not getting enough sleep.

At this stage, children and adolescents go through a variety of physical, mental, emotional and social changes. These changes can also affect the quality of their sleep. Yet sleep is a fundamental part of human development during adolescence. In our today's article, we'll explain the consequences of not getting enough sleep at this stage of your life. Therefore, we invite you to read!

Why do teenagers have trouble sleeping, and what are the consequences of not getting enough sleep for them?

When we sleep, we go through 2 alternating sleep cycles during the night:

• NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) Phase: During this phase, the eyeball moves rather slowly. This type of sleep consists of 4 sub-phases that go from being alert to slow-wave sleep in sequence.
• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Phase: This phase is also known as paradoxical sleep, and can be recognized by rapid eye movements.

Of both these phases, deep slow-wave sleep is the most important. The primary function of this sleep phase is to reduce brain metabolism and allow the brain to rest. In addition, experts believe that REM sleep is associated with brain development and learning.

These phases can easily change when it comes to teenagers. The reasons for this state of affairs have to do primarily with the sleep habits and social demands that young students and college students are experiencing today.

Habits that affect sleep negatively

Good sleep habits include a number of necessary practices. They allow adolescents to maintain a normal state of the body during night sleep and during the state of alertness during the day.

When adolescents have trouble sleeping, the most common causes include:

• Unhealthy eating habits, especially in the evening and at night.
• Performing vigorous exercise right before going to bed.
• Consuming certain substances such as coffee, energy drinks, caffeinated soft drinks, tobacco, alcohol or drugs.
• Watching series or movies late at night.
• Using a cell phone right before going to bed.
• Playing video games at night.

Social demands and the consequences of not getting enough sleep in adolescents

If you think about it, our modern society has high expectations. Thus, it is quite possible that the demands of education and social norms may adversely affect a teenager's sleep, with the many associated consequences of not getting enough sleep.

Many of them participate in various extracurricular activities or spend afternoons with friends. This keeps them from fulfilling their school duties during the day.

In fact, many young pupils and students stay awake during the night doing their homework or preparing for tests. But paradoxically, not getting enough sleep translates into poor academic performance.

This is because adolescents need optimal amounts of high-quality sleep to properly obtain and process information. This is crucial to facilitate the learning process.

Consequences of not getting enough sleep in adolescents

During the school year, teenagers have to spend long hours at school day after day. If they don't sleep well the night before, it will undoubtedly have a negative impact on their day at school.

The harmful consequences of not getting enough sleep in adolescents can include, for example:

• Difficulty focusing attention on the material taught by teachers.
• Problems concentrating on homework.
• Fatigue and weariness during the day.
• Memory loss.
• Difficulty taking notes without being distracted.
• Social problems.
• Poor school performance or even failing to cope.
• Irritability and mood swings.
• Reduction in motivation and energy levels.
• Inability to solve a task or make a decision.

Overall, the consequences of not getting enough sleep in adolescents are serious. They hinder the proper functioning of their bodies and minds, causing cognitive and motor dysfunction.

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They also influence their mood and everyday life in general. That's why it's so important to try and address your sleep deprivation issues in adolescence. Otherwise, they may deteriorate significantly already in adulthood.

Cognitive biases during adolescence make young people feel admired, unique, and invincible. Today's article will tell you more about this.

Adolescence is a complex stage in life that involves all sorts of major changes. The physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of young people takes another huge leap.

However, if you are not aware of the processes taking place in this phase, you may perceive adolescents as completely disconnected from reality at times. Of course, only your reality.

To prevent this from happening, today we'll talk about the way teenagers think and their common cognitive biases. As children reach puberty, they begin to think, feel and act differently than before. Many parents are shocked to see how their affectionate and obedient children suddenly become stubborn and independent.

However, this stage of the transition is perfectly normal. And if you can understand them, you can safely accompany your children during their adolescence.

It is self-centeredness that causes cognitive biases in adolescence

According to Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, with the advent of adolescence, young people enter an unofficial phase of profound changes in numerous aspects of life. It is associated with a higher level of cognitive development. However, this stage also goes hand in hand with the so-called youthful egocentrism.

This self-centeredness is based on the confusion of internal thinking and external reality. Thus, young people can maintain undue confidence in their own ideas, without concrete facts to support them.

This intellectual egocentrism opens the door to cognitive biases that lead to distorted beliefs that affect, in many cases, the rest of life.

Cognitive errors in adolescence

Imaginary audience

Teenagers have an extreme sense of self-awareness. They spend most of their time thinking about themselves. But it is not everything. They also assume that others are also thinking about them all the time. This explains why they feel constantly as if all eyes are on them. All the time they feel that others are watching and judging them.

An example of this is when a teenager becomes very nervous before meeting friends because she doesn't know how to cover up an ugly pimple on her nose. This severe state of anxiety comes from the thought that everyone will be staring at the imperfection of her appearance.

In other words, she thinks the other participants in the meeting will be just as aware of the pimple as she is.

This is known as the Imaginary Audience Effect because all this outside attention is just a figment of the teen's imagination. Most likely, every teenager in the room is so focused on their own insecurity that they don't even notice other people's problems.

Likewise, the feeling that others are constantly judging them gives teenagers the feeling that they are under a lot of pressure. Moreover, it induces them to behave inappropriately in order to gain public acceptance and recognition.

Own world

Very often you hear teenagers complaining that no one understands them, and this is due to living in their own world. Given this attitude in their thinking, young people think they are the only ones who feel like them ...

Only they face the reality in which they have to live. They feel that their personal experiences are truly unique and that no one has ever been in the same situation.

So, for example, when they go through a break-up period, teenagers say that no one understands their pain¦ no one has ever loved someone else as much as he or she¦ no one has ever experienced such love. They are sure that their relationship was unique in every way, and therefore so is their suffering.

A sense of indestructibility

In the same way that teens feel so special, they also think that nothing bad will happen to them. They feel that no rules apply to them and that they can avoid any danger by themselves.

So they dare to take unnecessary risks, believing that there will be no negative consequences. They will not get pregnant ... will not cause a traffic accident ... they will never become addicted to drugs and so on. This is a very dangerous aspect of teenage everyday life!

Temporary cognitive errors

All the cognitive biases described are typical of the life stage experienced by teenagers. As you develop your own identity and accumulate experiences, these prejudices gradually fade away.

At the same time, young people's mindsets are more adapted to reality. However, it is important for adults in their environment to be aware of these prejudices. This is especially true of parents.

This way, it will be much easier for parents to understand their children without judging them or blaming them for everything. This allows us to understand them better and to guide them with more love and respect. After all, it's only part of the process they go through.