Image by DonnaSenzaFiato from Pixabay
Your teenager is eating everything in the house. You wonder if she’s smoking pot. You think it’s a growth spurt. You might be wrong on both counts.
The chronic grazing might be related to sleep deprivation.
It’s been recommended high school start times be pushed back because sleep deprivation impairs memory, immune functioning, increases mood disorders and causes obesity.
Teenagers 14 to 17 should get between 8 and 9 hours of sleep.
Reduced sleep leads to changes in the rhythm of the chemical that affects appetite, motor learning, pain and thinking skills. This chemical is the same active ingredient in marijuana.
When you’ve had little sleep, you eat nearly twice the amount of fat as when you’re rested. The average sleep-deprived person takes in 300 more calories a day than they need and most of those calories are carbs and fats.
Re-think that whole “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” thing.
Claudia
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