03-13-2007, 05:26 PM
This is a great book:
http://tinyurl.com/2skwoe
Among other things, it explains the issue quite succinctly, backed up by simple research:
Teen are still children, and need as much sleep as any child does--as much as 11-12 hours/night. But at the same time their bodies are also wrestling them into adulthood and into adult cycles, where they go to bed later and later.
The result is a teen that "sleeps in very late". But he's not sleeping in; he's simply doing what his body has told him to do. On the one hand, his body is telling him to stay up later. But when he sleeps, his body is telling him to get the sleep he needs.
It all straightens out later on. The teen years are full of such dichotomy.
And then when you grow older and have kids, you stay up to midnight and get up at 5am and it's no big deal.
Then you have grandkids, and you go to be at 7pm and you're up at 7am.
http://tinyurl.com/2skwoe
Among other things, it explains the issue quite succinctly, backed up by simple research:
Teen are still children, and need as much sleep as any child does--as much as 11-12 hours/night. But at the same time their bodies are also wrestling them into adulthood and into adult cycles, where they go to bed later and later.
The result is a teen that "sleeps in very late". But he's not sleeping in; he's simply doing what his body has told him to do. On the one hand, his body is telling him to stay up later. But when he sleeps, his body is telling him to get the sleep he needs.
It all straightens out later on. The teen years are full of such dichotomy.
And then when you grow older and have kids, you stay up to midnight and get up at 5am and it's no big deal.
Then you have grandkids, and you go to be at 7pm and you're up at 7am.