The hi-tech gadgetry that keeps you entertained may also keep you awake, affecting your health, weight and studies
You've heard of junk food, but have you heard about junk sleep? 'Teenagers need to wake up to the fact that to feel well, perform well and look well, they need to do something about their sleep, said Dr Chris Idzikowski, of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre in Britain.
'What we are seeing is the emergence of junk sleep - sleep that is neither of the length or quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school.'
According to a 2007 Sleep Council survey of 12- to 16-year-olds in the UK, the boom in hi-tech entertainment gadgets is cutting into teenagers' sleep time, making them more active and alert when using the devices near bedtime. Nearly two-thirds (65.3 per cent) of teenagers who took part in the survey reported that they had a music system, TV and phone in their bedroom.
The online survey of 1,000 teenagers found that nearly one in three didn't sleep the eight to nine hours recommended for this age group. Most only achieved four to seven hours on school nights, and less than four hours on non-school nights.
Almost a quarter of the teens surveyed admitted falling asleep more than once a week while watching TV or listening to music, and 19 per cent of teenage boys said that leaving on the TV, music system, computer or games console affected the quality of their sleep. Forty per cent of the teens in the survey admitted that they felt tired all the time.
