Collated answers from the latest, very detailed lifestyle questionnaire that all those in post-Junior Cert year completed last November, show that 64 per cent of the youngsters who get eight or more hours sleep a night report their mental health as good or very good but only a third who sleep six hours can say the same. This drops again, to 22 per cent, among those who sleep less than six hours.
Jigsaw works with young people aged 12 to 25, and many of those who contact the service report sleep difficulties. Teenagers struggling with sleep is something for parents to tune into, be aware of and explore with their child, she says.Typically, especially in the lead-up to stressful events such as exams, Jigsaw encounters teenagers who find it hard to fall asleep, and this may go on for several hours.
I don’t know if young people understand that getting enough sleep has an impact on every aspect of their life: their academic prowess, their athletic ability, their beauty, their skinAdolescents’ sleep is a huge issue and there is a “void” of resources here in Ireland, says, an early childhood sleep expert who has applied her knowledge to work with Planet Youth on guidance webinars for parents.
If we want phones out of the bedroom and during downtime to initiate sleep, we parents also have to think about how to fill that time, she says, before “handing over the baton” to the teenager to complete their sleep routine. Family or connection time over a mug of hot chocolate or a game of cards might sound idealistic, she concedes, “but we have to figure out ways to help them make this transition”.
She has learned from conducting cybersafety sessions with teenagers that they are fine if parents say “I want your phone at nine o’clock”, but they can’t put down their phone at nine o’clock themselves. By following a house rule, “they can hide behind their parents”.Butler, who is involved in parent training, always advises people to focus on simple stuff: talk to your child, build a relationship and try to become a “you can tell me anything” parent who they trust.
She recalls how, a few years ago, a young person’s parents took the phone off her in the February before her Junior Cert and would not give it back until after the exams. “I thought it was the cruellest thing. We have to respect that they live their lives differently to the way we do.”