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Morning Blues
Get Your Teen out of Bed
By Laura Paul
"If children are very hyperactive or excitable, relaxation techniques can be very helpful," she says. "But certainly if a sleep disturbance goes on for more than six months, then it would be indicated a family get an evaluation of what is going on."
Some teenagers get plenty of sleep but still do not want to get up in the morning for school. They may be depressed or are afraid of facing their peers due to social pressures, or they may have test or academic performance anxiety.
"As kids hit middle school or high school, there may be other learning or developmental issues going on, and a child might show signs of refusal to go to school because school may be hard for them," Natoli says. "We need to evaluate the underlying factors that may be contributing to that. Sometimes learning and developmental issues are not identified until later on past age 9 or 10. We do diagnose kids with issues at a high school age even."
Natoli says parents should look for signs of emotional or psychological disturbances such as teenagers withdrawing from the activities they used to enjoy, pulling away from friends and family or not talking.
But more often than not, teenagers appear moody because they simply aren't getting as much sleep as they require. Parents should focus on making sure their teenagers wake up and are exposed to light at the same time every day and encourage naps to make up for sleep debts that are inevitable for teenagers with active social calendars.