Why can't I go to sleep at night?

Question

I would fall asleep around 1:30 AM and wake up at 4:15 AM. I am not tired at the time but I feel drained of energy in the day.

Is it normal for a 12-year-old?

Well I'm 5'3 and 125 pounds. Not that athletic. I do ice skating, soccer, basketball, and volleyball.

Answer 1

Ignore anyone telling you to take some sort of drug to help you sleep.
If you are napping at school, or when you get home from school- stop doing that.
Get ready for bed well before it is time to actually go to sleep- for example, don't play video games until 10:45 and expect to be asleep at 11:00. Allow some time to wind down and get relaxed.
If you're not sleepy, read a book until you get sleepy.
Don't drink soft drinks in the evening because the caffeine will keep you up.
If you don't nap, and continue to get up at 7 (don't oversleep) even when you have had only 3 hours of sleep, it won't be more than a day or two and you will be sleepy, and your body will soon learn that the time to sleep is in the evening, from 11:00-7:00 (or whenever) and you will sleep soundly then.

Teens at Risk
The more your body is growing, the more slumber you need. Infants doze 16 or more hours a day; 3-year-olds only 12 hours. From puberty to age 20, a child needs 9 hours and 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, American teenagers only average six hours. "We're trying to educate a nation of walking zombies," says James B. Maas, Ph.D., Cornell University psychology professor and author of Power Sleep (Harper Collins, 1999). "Students' bodies are in the classroom, but their brains are on the pillow at home."

Perhaps this is a case of too much to do and too little time, but it also may be one of biology. Teenagers' internal clocks shift at puberty, sending them to bed two hours later, at 11 p.m. In 1998, federal legislation was introduced to offer school districts financial incentives to change school hours to be more in sync with teens' circadian rhythms, but only a few communities did so.

Studies by the nation's leading teen sleep researchers show:

The sleep your child is missing matters. Hormones essential to growth and sexual maturation are released during sleep. The brain also clears short-term memory, reviews the day's learning, and reboots emotions during REM, or rapid eye movement sleep (so-called because eyes dart back and forth under the lids). "The old adage that teenagers who don't sleep don't grow has some truth to it," says Dr. Frisca Yan-Go, medical director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center.

The longer you sleep, the better your grades. A survey of 3,120 Rhode Island students found that students earning As and Bs averaged 35 minutes more sleep a night than those earning Ds and Fs. One-fourth of the students slept 6-1/2 hours or less on school nights. Only 15 percent slept 8-1/2 hours or more.

Inadequate sleep leads to poor concentration, inability to remember, crankiness, and sluggishness. It's also a major reason that car accidents are the second leading cause of death in young people, Dr. Yan-Go says. So what can you do?
Keep a regular bedtime. Discourage late-night sports practices, workouts, and jobs.
Readjust your child's internal clock by opening curtains and turning on all the lights in the morning. At night, keep lights low.
Consider removing TVs, computers, phones, and video games from bedrooms, and stop using them at least an hour before bed.
Allot at least 8-1/2 hours for your teen to sleep and schedule life around that.

Answer 2

Lane had great suggestion. Do not do brain stimulating things after 7 pm. That will let your brain go quiet to prepare for sleep.
Take in NO caffeine, in sodas or anything else, before bed.

I have a similar problem. I go to sleep by 9 or 10 and wake by 4:30. Once I get in this pattern, of 3 to 6 nights, I have to take a nighttime PM to correct my sleep pattern. They help me sleep until 6 to 6:30. I definitely sympathize, as I too am exhausted by afternoon.

I use a soft knit sleep mask over my eyes at night and it helps a lot. You go into this warm slumber land.

Good luck.

Good Luck.

Answer 3

Lane has given you some great information.

First thing is to tell your parents what is going on with your sleep and see your doctor. You may need a sleep study to find out if you are suffering from a sleep disorder or sleep disordered breathing.

Next, if you are diagnosed with a sleep disorder be compliant and continue the therapy your doctor presribes.

You or your parents are welcome to send me a message for more information.

Answer 4

Get more "B" vitamins, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast in a glass of V-8 is good. Get more exercise. unless one is physically tired, it is difficult to rest. Take a small amount of melatonin at bed time. Turn off ALL lights in the room you sleep in. (make it TOTALLY dark) These things should help you get better rested.

Answer 5

Take a look at this page on insomnia for some good ideas and tips and good quality sleep:

Answer 6

try to relax when you go to sleep ,i think meditation will definitely help u to get a good night sleep,simple way to meditate is close your eyes as u lie down on bed ,and try to think that u need to sleep as ur body needs to rest avoid thinking about anything else try to concentrate ,slowly n steadily keep on eliminating the thoughts in your mind and then m sure u will sleep well

Answer 7

that happened to me once. when i had to take morphene and decided to just go cold turkey it such a grim feeling so i can empathise. however i do kno that the fitter you are the less sleep you need so maybe you have a realy fast metableism.

Answer 8

does this occur often? maybe your sleep patterns are way out of whack. or you are suffering from insomnia, go to a doc and see if they can hook you up with some sleeping pills until you can get on a regular sleep pattern

Answer 9

I had the same problem, could be a bunch of different things. Like Caffeine, depression, anxiety and so on...Talk to your Dr.

Answer 10

Welcome to the world of insomnia. Get more exercise, and try to clear your mind when you go to bed. Your mind is overactive. Also try going to bed earlier if possible.