One key thing to avoid if you want to eliminate cravings
It’s not only adults but teens who suffer from cravings due to exhaustion.
My daughter barely sleeps before 3–4 am. I hear her chatting while I get up to start my day with a gym session.
I’m sure she’s not the only one who’s chronically sleep-deprived and struggling to maintain attention span.
Thankfully it’s currently school holiday mode, but this can be a bad habit to break.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says that daytime sleepiness is prevalent among teenagers who struggle to get a decent night’s sleep.
Teens need more than nine hours per night to feel alert, rested, and focused during the day.
In this
study, 262 students were asked to complete a sleepiness scale, a validated depression scale and a scale to gauge carbohydrate cravings.
Twelve per cent of students admitted to higher levels of cab cravings from sleep deprivation.
These findings bring home just how important sleep is in regulating our metabolism and appetite.
But unfortunately, this one factor could be contributing to weight gain, disease and lowering your quality of life.
Teenagers aren’t the only culprits; adults also constantly suffer from sleep deprivation.
Insufficient sleep can throw your metabolism and balance out of sync, which affects your dietary choices.
Over time, lack of sleep will increase your weight considerably. However, it tends to happen a little at a time.
Obesity is an epidemic amongst adults, but the figures show it’s affecting our teens too.
Metabolic syndrome and diabetes aren’t uncommon in younger people these days.
Key take away
Diagnosing yourself and your teen with sleep deprivation symptoms is essential. In addition, you are arming yourself with some backed-up research to uncover health challenges that may occur.
It’s undoubtedly the wake-up call we all need.
Children and adults are a lot more susceptible to depression when they are sleep deprived. This might be a silent contributor that exacerbates the problem.
How can you enforce better sleep habits?
One: Bringing some statistics into the conversation does help
What will be a detrimental health factor which might create health issues and a less than ideal lifestyle for you and your teen?
Two: Go on a device cleanse at a particular time
Turn off devices and don’t allow children to fall asleep looking at them. This might lead to dependency later on in life.
Three: Use a sleep app
Monitor each other’s sleep every day and keep one another accountable.
Four: Allowing a certain amount of time to pass
So you can see the benefits on your physique, energy levels and health.
Sleep is essential if we want to stay healthy throughout our lifetime.
Getting enough sleep can sometimes be challenging — but lack of sleep for years will contribute to several detrimental health problems.
Devices are one of the biggest culprits eating their away in our sleep.
It will take teens a high level of discipline to put them down and encourage a good night’s sleep.
Although this will be hard at first, be persistent and participate in this team exercise.
Doing it alone isn’t as motivating as having someone to be accountable to (your teen might be the first one to give in alone)
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