Powering up your teen's brain!

The sleep problem
“Almost all teenagers in this country are sleep-deprived,” says Maida Chen, M.D., associate director of the Pediatric Sleep Center at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and a sleep researcher at the University of Washington. Most modern teens get between six and seven hours of sleep on school nights, but their bodies really require closer to nine or 10. Research finds that during the teen years, the body’s circadian rhythm (or internal body clock) is different from that of younger children and adults. It tells teens to fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning. “A younger child is happy to go to bed at 8 on school nights, but starting about age 14, teens just can’t fall asleep until closer to 10 or 11,” Chen says. She describes this as the “circadian delayed sleep phase” and says it’s a hormonally driven stage of life lasting into the early twenties.

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Guiding through an Emotional Time

Helping your child navigate the stresses of their life is a true gift. How to understand what you can impact, how to 'descale' an issue or situation, how to learn from that experience. Annie Fox provides a good working model
 

 If your child is upset and willing to talk about what’s going on, these steps can help him/her calm down and figure out the next best move. If your child’s upset but not yet ready to talk about it, respect that, and check back with him/her later. If your son/daughter is unwilling to talk to you for whatever reason and your gut tells you that he/she needs to talk to someone… get the help of another adult that you and your child know and trust.

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The Present of Being Present

The impact of our presence is meaningful in so many ways.  Think of our presence as a gift, a gift of listening, kindness, humor, appreciation... Maren offers a helpful path to follow.

Do you ever worry about getting the “right” gift for the special people in your life? Let's take a few minutes and make sure we are giving the gifts that can only come from the heart.

The Present of Listening.  How do we really listen? We turn off our cell phones, the television and the computer, and we focus on the person who is talking to us. We think in terms of their interests, their dreams and their disappointments. We are non-judgmental. We ask questions. We don't offer our own anecdotes. We focus on what is being said. We just try to understand.

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