A recent Australian study has found poor sleep led to increases in symptoms of generalised anxiety, social anxiety, depression and eating disorders. Some Sydney year 12 students are learning strategies to better manage their sleep and mental well-being for now and into the future. NOTE: The current sleep guidelines in Australia are 9-11 hours for 5 to 13 year-olds and 8-10 hours for 14 to 17 year-olds. Teenagers and families are advised to speak to their GP if they're experiencing difficulties with sleep and mental health.
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00:00 My name is David, I'm 17 and I'm from Western Sydney.
00:05 I don't give myself permission to sleep.
00:07 I'm like, I need to get this task done or I'm not sleeping.
00:10 And then I keep working and working and working.
00:12 But then I get that task done and it's 1am and I'm like,
00:15 oh, well, I should have gone to sleep because now the next morning is going to have to suffer.
00:20 A specific bedtime.
00:22 If I'm alone, I'm really sombre, I'm really low and monotone and kind of dead.
00:29 I'm Phoebe, I'm 17 and I'm from Western Sydney.
00:32 It's a bit hit and miss.
00:33 There'll be some days where I'm sleeping more than others.
00:36 Sometimes where I struggle to get to sleep.
00:39 So tired.
00:40 It impacts the way I go to school, my ability to get up, get ready.
00:46 Like, I just feel like everything's an effort when it really shouldn't be.
00:49 But then I also feel really emotional a lot more than I need to.
00:54 So I want you to just to chat to the person next to you
00:56 and talk about how you feel when you don't get enough sleep outside of the word tired and sleepy.
01:02 Experts around the world talk about nine hours has been optimal for you for your learning and mental health.
01:08 All right, how do you feel when you don't get enough sleep?
01:10 Dead.
01:11 Dead.
01:12 Normal.
01:13 Normal.
01:14 Terrible.
01:15 Terrible.
01:16 Exhausted.
01:17 Exhausted.
01:18 Frustrated.
01:19 Frustrated.
01:20 They often look tired.
01:21 They're struggling to potentially engage with the learning or they're feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
01:27 And often when you dig a little bit deeper, you realise that they have terrible sleep routines.
01:31 Loads of fantastic questions as I went round.
01:33 So giving them that information and knowledge is a way for them to have better self-care and self-regulate.
01:39 We also have siblings that keep us up at night and then we also procrastinate going to sleep sometimes.
01:46 A lot of us do like sport, work, all that, gym.
01:53 Now you know you'll get more muscle gains if you get enough sleep, don't you?
01:56 Yeah, recovery all happens at night time.
01:58 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:59 We know that sleep supports your mental health, your stress levels.
02:02 I just want you to have a really great year this year and getting enough sleep will just help you be the best version of yourselves in all those areas.
02:10 Getting to bed early.
02:11 I really need to get that part of my strict schedule because a part of sleeping feels like it's taking that break.
02:17 I'm not the only person that feels this way and it's actually easier to correct than what we think.
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]