Is Your Teen Not Being Able To Sleep? Find Out If He's Loney

Is your teenager having trouble falling asleep or sleeping less? Most teens need an order of 9-plus hours nightly to have optimal sleep. Most teens are pre-occupied with a technological playground in their rooms - television, computer, telephones, game stations. We would tend to blame their poor quality of sleep on technology but a latest study points out that it may actually be because of the feeling of loneliness. Loneliness is defined by researchers as a feeling of distress that people experience when they perceive their social relationships to be inadequate.

They may also have poor sleep quality, including the time it takes to fall asleep, sleep duration and sleep disturbances, as well as daytime dysfunction such as staying awake during the day due to feelings of loneliness.

The findings of a recent study showed that the young adults, who are lonely are 24 per cent more likely to feel tired and have difficulty concentrating during the day.

Louise Arseneault Professor at King's College London said, "Diminished sleep quality is one of the many ways in which loneliness gets under the skin, and our findings underscore the importance of early therapeutic approaches to target the negative thoughts and perceptions that can make loneliness a vicious cycle."

The researchers analysed 2,232 18-19 year-old twins born in England and Wales and found that the association between loneliness and poor sleep quality was almost 70 per cent stronger among those exposed to the most severe forms of violence, including crime, sexual abuse, child maltreatment and violent abuse by family members or peers.

Researchers said, restless sleep in lonely individuals may be because they feel less safe or the result of a heightened biological stress response.

(With inputs from IANS)

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