Sleep is Food for the Brain

Sleep is food for the brain. During sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. Skipping sleep can be harmful and even deadly, particularly if you are behind the wheel. You can look bad, you may feel moody, and you perform poorly. Sleepiness can make it hard to get along with your family and friends and affect your performance at school or work. As a reminder, a brain that is hungry for sleep will get it, even when you don’t expect it. For example, drowsiness and falling asleep at the wheel cause more than 100,000 car crashes every year. When you do not get enough sleep, you are more likely to have an accident, injury and/or illness.

Sleep is vital to your well-being, as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage the stress of being a teen. Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence -- meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11 pm.

Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough.) Most teens do not get enough sleep. One study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights.

Not getting enough sleep or having sleep difficulties can:

* Limit your ability to learn, listen, concentrate and solve problems. You may even forget important information like names, numbers, your homework or a date with a special person in your life;
* Make you more prone to pimples. Lack of sleep can contribute to acne and other skin problems;
* Lead to aggressive or inappropriate behavior such as yelling at your friends or being impatient with teachers or family members;
* Cause you to eat too much or eat unhealthy foods like sweets and fried foods that lead to weight gain;
* Heighten the effects of alcohol and possibly increase use of caffeine and nicotine; and
* Contribute to illness, not using equipment safely or driving drowsy.

Make sleep a priority. Maintain a regular bed and wake time schedule including weekends. Find a way to relax before bedtime either through relaxing music or an environment that is dark and comfortable. Make sure your mattress and pillows are not broken down. Avoid eating, exercising, using caffeine and alcohol or smoking before bedtime.
Along with the physical changes that occur due to lack of sleep, changes to our sleep patterns are a part of the normal aging process. As people age, they tend to have a harder time falling asleep and more trouble staying asleep than when they were younger. It is a common misconception that sleep needs decline with age. More information on sleep can be found on the National Sleep Foundation’s website.