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10 Tips Which Can Stop Sleep Problems From Resulting In Falling School Grades

By: Don Saunders It has been felt for a time now that too little or poor quality sleep in teenagers results in poor performance at school, however it was not until recently that a study confirmed that teenage children with bad sleeping habits do in fact have lower grades.

Here are 10 tips to ensure that a healthy child enjoys the quality of sleep needed to do well in school.*� Set a regular time for going to bed and do not vary this time by more than a few minutes from day to day.*� Do not take any strenuous exercise within several hours of going to bed. If you wish to play soccer or engage in other sporting or strenuous activities then make sure that you do these shortly after school and not an hour or two before bedtime.*� Avoid the temptation to take a nap after school. If you do find that you are so tired that you cannot keep your eyes open then go ahead and take a nap but for no more than 45 minutes or an hour.*� Should you find that you cannot get to sleep within say 20 minutes of getting into bed then do not simply lie in bed trying to get to sleep, because the more you try the harder it will become. As an alternative, get up and do something such as listening to some relaxing music or reading a book. As soon as you begin to feel tired, get back into bed and you should fall asleep in no time at all.*� At bedtime make sure that the bedroom is dark, quiet and cool. Do not shut your bedroom up, turn up the heat and get into bed to watch TV. Instead, turn the heating down, open the window a little if you can to allow in some fresh air and make the room as dark as possible.*� Avoid eating a heavy meal close to bedtime. You obviously should not go to bed hungry and eating a light snack before bedtime is fine, however climbing into bed on a full stomach will make it difficult to get to sleep and affect the quality of your sleep.*� Despite the fact that teenagers will sometimes spend a lot of time in their bedroom and turn it into more of a 'living' than a 'sleeping' room, avoid using the bed for anything other than sleeping. Do not sit in bed, playing games, reading, writing, watching TV or anything else but reserve it solely for sleeping so that your body learns to associate getting into bed with going to sleep.*� Ensure that you get up at the same time each morning, regardless of whether or not it is a school day. Teenagers often get up late on weekends and during school holidays and, instead of helping to make you feel better, this just disrupts your pattern of sleep.*� Steer clear of any form of drink containing caffeine after about 3 o�clock in the afternoon. This naturally applies to tea and coffee, but also extends to colas and chocolate drinks.*� Avoid the temptation to stay up late finishing your homework or getting ready for a test. Despite the fact that this might appear to be the answer to a particular problem in the short term, and might keep you out of trouble for turning in your homework late or see you through a test, in the longer run your overall performance will drop and any shorter term benefits will quickly disappear.

If you follow these 10 tips you will find that within no time at all your quality of sleep will improve, you will feel more awake and active during the day and your grades will improve.