Nowadays Teens much rather sit on the couch and play video games or spend hours updating their Facebook page, rather than engaging in a physical activity. With the obesity rate in teens increasing, exercise for teenagers has become a huge concern amongst parents. We all know the effects a sedentary lifestyle can have on a teen’s weight, but did you know it could be affecting how well they sleep too? If your child is not getting good physical exercise everyday, they may not be getting a restful sleep.

Exercise for teenagers is crucial when it come to how well they sleep. In a recent study, a correlation was found between exercise and how quickly the subjects fall asleep and the duration time of their sleep. The time  it took for the subjects to fall asleep ranged from 10 minutes to 40 minutes. Physical activity during the day and how quickly or how long it took the subjects to fall asleep were closely linked. For every hour of sedentary behavior throughout the day, 3 minutes was tacked on to the time it took the subjects to fall asleep later, resulting in less sleep overall. The subjects who fell asleep quicker ended up sleeping longer, getting an extra hour of sleep. They also found that for every 10-minute reduction of time it took the subjects to fall asleep, an extra hour of sleep was added on to their night.

Bottom line, teens need lots of sleep, so they are going to have to get up off the couch and move around. It’s a very difficult task to motivate teens to get up and do something. Try engaging them with something that involves activity they might already like. For example, if your teen likes to dance, a dance workout program might be appealing. The more sleep teen’s get the better. It not only allows them to pay attention in school, but it also betters their mood for when they come home to you!