Most of us probably know that getting enough sleep makes us feel better, but there’s so much more to it than that – especially for our teens. In this episode, Vicki and Elizabeth talk with Lisa Lewis, author of the book The Sleep Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive about why our students aren’t getting enough sleep, the dramatic effect that can have on them, and how to help them get more sleep. If you sometimes feel as though your student is sleepwalking much of the time, you’ll discover you’re not alone – and you really help your teen make some changes.

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We were excited in this episode to have a conversation with Lisa Lewis, author of The Sleep Deprived Teen: Why our Teenagers Are So Tired and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive. Sleep is one of the most important factors in helping students succeed and stay healthy, but for college students it can be a major challenge.

Lisa began by sharing some of the issues that exist with early high school start times and what a difference it can make when middle and high schools move to later start times. Lisa also made clear that this problem of tired teenagers is not as simple as telling them to go to bed earlier. Their internal clocks are really different.

Wonder how much sleep your teen should be getting? Lisa shared that teens up to age 18 should be getting 8-10 hours of sleep. They may look like adults, but their sleep needs are different.

We covered the influence of light and dark, electronic devices and keeping them out of the bedroom, role modeling for students, and the links between sleep and mental health, risky behaviors, and grades.

Lisa also shared how much getting sleep can make a difference for athletes. The statistics in the book make it clear that sleep is a competitive advantage. If you have an athlete and you want to help them understand why sleep matters, check out the information in the book. It has made a difference for entire teams as well as individual athletes and also shortened healing time for injuries.

We also learned that “banking” sleep – getting enough ahead of time is much more beneficial than “catch-up” sleep trying to make up for a sleep debt. The math just doesn’t work.

And yes, we talked about naps! Good? Bad? It depends.

If you want to find out more about Lisa or her book, check out her website: www.lisallewis.com

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