Have you ever wondered what your life would be without sleeping? Sleep is a small word, but life cannot function without it. It performs many important functions in our body. Sleep removes fatigue and fills everyone with new energy. Apart from this, cell repair, growth, digestion, etc., functions take place in the body only during night sleep.
A person’s sleeping hours vary according to their age. Young children need at least 18 to 19 hours of sleep. Teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep. According to a survey, 72 % of school-going teenagers are not getting good sleep, resulting in hindered success at school.
Causes Of Bad Sleep That Affect Success At School
Given below are some reasons responsible for improper sleep cycle –
Overthinking: – Overthinking is not a disease but a state of mind. It is caused by thinking too much. But these thoughts are mostly inclined towards negativity. During this phase, the person starts thinking about its disadvantages instead of doing any labour. Expectations from others are another reason for overthinking.
Adolescence is a stage of enthusiasm. Teenagers have a lot of unfulfilled desires. The main reasons for this are peer pressure and the use of social media. Seeing different types of people living luxurious lives on social media creates an inferiority complex in children. This diverts children’s attention from studies, and they waste their time thinking about useless things. Thus, overthinking hinders success at school and may instigate bad behaviour in them.
Insomnia: – Insomnia is a disorder that occurs due to lack of sleep. During this, the affected person remains awake till late at night and sometimes even loses sleep in the middle of the night. Apart from this, the person feels lazy during the day, and their memory becomes weak.
The primary causes of this disorder are anxiety and depression. However, the cause of insomnia in teenagers is excessive screen time. In this condition, the concentration power becomes quite weak. School-going children who have insomnia are unable to concentrate while studying. This is how improper sleep affects kids.
Eating habits: – The type of food we eat also affects our sleep. According to doctors, people who consume too much sugar do not fall asleep quickly. Also, eating spicy and high-fibre food before sleeping is harmful to sleep.
Eating time also affects sleep. For example, consuming coffee while working is beneficial because it keeps you alert, but if you drink coffee at night, it will prevent you from sleeping.
In the present times, junk food containing saturated fat has increased in large quantities. Beverages or cold drinks have high sugar content. These food stalls are set up near schools, hostels, and coaching centres to attract teenagers. Therefore, eating habits have become a major cause of poor sleep cycles. This prevents children from attaining success at school.
Consequences Of Improper Sleep That Affect Children’s Ability To Gain Success At School
Below are some of the outcomes that occur due to incomplete sleep:
Obesity: – Obesity is caused by excessive weight gain. When a person withdraws enough sleep, the hunger-inducing hormones in his body stop working properly. Due to hormonal imbalance, that person feels hungrier. As hunger increases, the intake of food also increases. This results in weight gain, and due to this, the sleep cycle gets disturbed. Fifteen million school-going children in the world are victims of obesity. Among these, the number of preschoolers is significant.
High blood pressure: – Adequate sleep balances blood pressure. But due to lack of good sleep, blood pressure increases. There are many dangers due to high blood pressure, such as heart failure. Due to an increase in blood pressure, our nervous system is not able to pump blood properly. This causes difficulty in delivering blood to the heart. Thus, sleep affects blood pressure in children.
Diabetes: – Diabetes is a disease caused by an increased level of sugar in a person’s body. The research found that intolerance towards sugar arises in the body due to a lack of proper sleep. This imbalance results in diabetes. The main diseases caused by diabetes are kidney failure and eye disease. The incidence of diabetes among children has increased in the last few years.
How To Improve Sleep Cycle
Here are some tips that can help them attain success at school by improving their sleep cycle.
- Use phone and computer only when necessary.
- Do not consume junk food daily.
- Do not compare yourself with others because it increases stress.
- Take food at the right time.
- Stop using your mobile phone one hour before sleeping.
In the present era, lack of sleep has become a common thing. The main reason for this is this life full of competition. Every person is sacrificing sleep to fulfil their dream. Youths are being harmed the most because of this. Due to this, they face obstacles to obtaining success at school.
The young generation is the future of every society and country. That is why it is everyone’s responsibility to protect them.
At Kangaroo Kids International School, we prepare our curriculum to promote the overall growth in your child. Enrol your children today!
