Teens of today are very busy with their daily activities. It has become difficult for them to manage time for school, family, friends and extracurricular activities. A teenagers busy schedule their health can be easily neglected. Health experts have come up with healthy alternatives to keep them healthy for teens to overcome the stress. Jogging helps in the growth of bones and muscles in teenagers. It also helps the teenagers to grow tall by activating the nerves on their feet which are responsible for the height.

How to Encourage Teens:
• Parents should take initiative steps to encourage their teens to for a jog regularly. Teens should follow some safety tips before going for a jog.
• Going for a jog early in the morning is healthy for teens especially in summers. It is not advisable to jog in the afternoons or at nights.
• Teens should have jogging partners because it is not safe for them to go all alone.
• Some outsiders may lure the teens with things they are interested and take advantage of their age.
• It is advisable for teens to go for a jog in a group of friends. This will not bore the concept of jogging instead it will be an enjoyable experience.
• Parents should help their teens in choosing a safe place to jog.
• They should encourage their teens to go for jogging in a place where it is calm, quite and a place where the brain can relax.
• A calm place always relieves the brain and the body from stress.
• Parents should see that their teens sport athletic shoes before going for a jog, because wrong choice of footwear can cause cramps or may even sprain the ankle.

Most teens would be found sleeping his way through his midway through his first period class. The eyes are found open, but the brains are asleep. Teens must have at least 9.25 hours of shut-eye every night, as per the recent studies. This will help them to function well in every field they are associated with. To wake up at 7:30 am, they must go to bed by 9:00 p.m. About 8-9 hours of sleep each night is mandatory for all teens. This is the right sleep that will assist you in achieving your goals in life. But unfortunately, most of the teens don’t get enough sleep. Do you know why ? I know you will have lots of answers in queue. Let us pick a few, but the most common reasons to lesser sleep in teens.

• Bad habit of staying up late and then over sleeping for school is the most common cause. Most teens when were kids, used to study till late in the night and go to bed very late. This used to make them late for school and hence had to wake up early after sleeping late. This reduced their sleeping time.
• Frequent night outs with peers also cause sleepless nights.
• Addiction to movies and TV shows also have made the sleeping patterns miserable. You won’t believe how teens crave for watching those late night TV shows, late night thrillers, action movies and many more. Most teens who are stuck in their studies and other work the whole day tend to watch the idiot box at night after completing their work.
• Heavy study pressure and academic assignments are also a major reason for spending nights completing them.
• Teens who are engaged into some unlikely creative art, also tend to start with their activities after the world goes to sleep. This way they can hide their activities successfully.

What Science Says ?

Adolescents don’t feel hormonally sleepy until 11 or 12. There are no techniques that can change basic cellular rhythms. Why fight it? Try to manage it.

Our body has a circadian system. The circadian rhythm resembles that of an internal biological clock, which works roughly as a 24-hour cycle in all the processes in a living organism like the biochemical processes, physiological processes or behavioural processes. This internal clock is temporarily reset in a teen’s body which makes you fall asleep late and even wake up late. This is because of the brain hormone, known as melatonin. In teens, this hormone is produced much later at night than in kids and adults. This makes it harder for teens to sleep at proper time. So science says that it is the age and development that causes sleeplessness. And we often get late in waking up and starting our day. So we tend to squeeze our sleeping hours to 5-6 hours every night. Missing a couple of hours from our big sleep does not make any difference to us. But it does actually.

Why We Need Sleep ?

Sleep is needed in every aspect of our life. To fulfil your capabilities, sleep is a must.

• Sleep is responsible for your increased attention and concentration.
• Do you know why do teens undergo a frequent mood swings, its the lack of sleep.
• Improper sleep can also make you lose grades as you will be unable to study properly and sleep in class.
• Your ability to beat the scores in athletics will also be affected by lack of sleep.
• Slowed responses are also another very common symptoms of sleeplessness.
• You start feeling drowsy while driving. According to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, more than 100,000 accidents, 40,000 injuries, and 1,500 people are killed in the U.S. every year. The reason is crashes caused by drowsy and tired drivers. The more number of people are seen to be below 20s.
• Emotional troubles like sadness, irritability, anxiety and depression are also linked to sleep.
• Sleep helps in keeping us physically healthy. It slows our body systems to re-energize us the following day after sleep.

To keep your child’s activity level high, you must first disengage them from activities that promote idleness and get them into safe, fun, active alternatives.

• Limit television/ computer games: It causes more harm than good. Introduce them to new and interesting outdoor activities.
• Try to influence your child’s activity level through example: Be a good role model. Children with active parents are usually active themselves. Children whose parents watch excessive amounts of television are likely to do the same.
• Play with your child and make the entire episode enjoyable: Playing together is not only an opportunity to exercise, it also increases family bonding. You get to know your child better, and your child feels that his parents are an integral part in his life.
• Appreciate your child for every new activity he does: This will install in him self confidence and creativity, an urge to do something new.

Here are a few suggestions to keep the brats active and engaged:

• Encourage kids to include any sort of physical activity of their choice in the daily schedule: This will give them leaner bodies, stronger bones and muscles, improved coordination, better posture, and fewer health complications as adults. In addition to the physical benefits, active children concentrate better in school, have increased self-esteem, are less likely to suffer from depression or anxiety, and have a better overall outlook on life.
• Join some hobby classes: You will learn something new and interesting. It can be dancing, gymnastics, painting, playing some musical instrument, paragliding – anything that interests you.
• Strength training: This can be a fun way for your child to build healthy muscles, joints, and bones. With a properly designed and supervised programme, your child can improve his endurance, total fitness level, and sports performance.
• If at home, learn some recipes from your mom: You can be a great help to her if guests are around or you need to cook up something quick for yourself. You can even surprise everyone by cooking the Sunday lunch.
• Plan out with your child a family activity day: It can be a short excursion, a trek or a visit to the beach or zoo. Encourage your child to click pictures. He can mount and label each photo and create a family scrapbook of your special family day out.
• Join a neighbourhood book club or library: Exchange books, magazines with your friends. It will inculcate a good reading habit as well as enhance your knowledge tremendously.
• If it’s hot…go for swimming, indoor ice-skating, or any other water sports. Start today by brainstorming with your child to find a variety of activities that are good and fit for his ability, age and interests. You have to find out something new every time, if you want your kids to be puffed up and panting.

A teenager needs about nine hours of sleep every night in order to maintain optimal daytime alertness. But only 15 percent actually sleep that amount regularly, rest usually sleep six hours, or even less. Part-time jobs, tuition, homework, school activities and friends are prioritized. Sleep deprivation can undermine teen health.

Recent findings suggest that adolescent sleep problems are often associated with psycho-pathologies such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Changes in the body clock aren’t the only reason teens lose sleep, sleep quality is often disrupted because of:

Neurological impairment: A thorough behavioural history may unleash a range of neuro issues affecting sleep, including separation anxiety and attention-deficit disorder. Neurologically based disorders of hyper-somnolence often have their onset in adolescence and can have a profound impact on a young person’s academic and social functioning. Such disorders usually go unrecognized and can cause the perception that the teen is lazy, unmotivated, or learning-disabled. At times, it can be because of genetic factors also.

Nightmares: Most teens suffer from nightmares occasionally, but frequent nightmares can disrupt sleep patterns. Triggering factors of nightmares include certain medications, smoking, drugs, or alcohol; emotional stress or anxiety. Sleep deprivation can also be a cause, that is it becomes a vicious circle.

Other causes which can lead to sleep problems in teens and require medical attention are:

• Sleep apnea: Most commonly occurs in obese teens. Also leads to mood swings, inattentiveness and hyperactivity.
• Periodic legs syndrome: This condition causes a creepy sensation in the legs immediately before bedtime. Associated with iron deficiencies during childhood.

Lack of sleep!!! Have a look what’s in store for you……

• Reduced concentration, alertness, awareness, decision making skills
• Poor memory
• Increased chance of mental fixating on one thought
• Increased possibility of mood swings and short temper
• Reduced work efficiency
• Loss of motivation
• Brief periods of involuntary and incomplete sleep that range from a few seconds to a few minutes in duration

What can be done to take care of this problem?

• Try resetting your biological clock: A way out is chronotherapy, which involves delaying bedtime by two or three hours every night for a progression of nights until an acceptable bedtime is reached.
• Don’t smoke or drink alcoholic or caffeinated beverages 3-4 hours before bedtime.
• Improve your sleeping environment in any way you like – for example, put on some light relaxing music.
• Use relaxation techniques to help you fall asleep quickly, eg. Take a warm water shower before going to bed.

Most teens need a little effort to adjust their schedules and get the right amount of sleep. But if the problem persists and becomes out of control, it’s best to seek medical help.

Teenagers seemed to have turned into nocturnal beings. The world sleeps when they are awake. This behavioural pattern has a biological reason. Puberty among teens changes an adolescent’s internal clock and this influences the sleep cycles and hormonal changes. This phenomenon is medically termed as delayed sleep phase syndrome. Eventhough it is common, delayed sleep phase syndrome doesn’t affect every teenager.

An average teenager needs around nine hours of sleep every night in order to maintain a healthy daytime alertness. But only around 15 percent of teens actually sleep that amount regularly. They usually sleep for around six hours, or even less, that too in odd timings. Sleep is one of the main causes of illhealth among teens.

How to Keep Kids Active?

A popular saying thus goes, “An idle brain is a devil’s workshop”. If they are not strudying or playing, kids have to be engaged in some other activity which makes their body and brain alert. This activity could be anything from physical to mind-boggling mental activities. kids are more like mini computers, the more data is fed in today, the higher will be the output in the years to come.

To increase your child’s activity level, you must first avoid them from engaging in activities that promote idleness and get them into safe, fun, active alternatives. One of the biggest problems with children is that they love to be around television and computer games which actually cause more harm than good to kids. Parents also should involve themselves with the children by playing with them. This also makes them think that their parents are an essential and integral part of their life.

Read on to know more on exercise and sleep of teenagers.