The app to help teens sleep more

THEY’RE infamous for never getting out of bed in the morning, but the reason some adolescents sleep in is they can’t sleep at night and a new mobile phone app aims to help them beat their insomnia.

Poor sleep has been linked to mental health problems and the Black Dog Institute is trialling a new phone app called Sleep Ninja that tracks teens’ sleep patterns.

The app will also provide teens with cognitive behavioural therapy strategies to deal with sleep difficulties.

“Insomnia can be a symptom of mental illness, and for adolescents in particular, sleep problems are a common precursor to the onset of depression,” said Black Dog Institute researcher Aliza Werner-Seidler.

“Even for young people whose sleep problems don’t develop into depression, it can still impair their academic performance, self-esteem and resilience,” she said.

Adolescents need between 8-10 hours’ sleep a night but mobile phone use and social media activity means many don’t achieve that goal.

Good sleep habits should ensure that the bed is only used for sleeping and not for homework or socialising, said Dr Werner-Seidler.

And teens should stop look- ing at screens an hour before they go to sleep and wind down by reading, having a bath and drinking herbal tea.

The new phone app provides stepped cognitive behavioural therapy programs to help teens deal with worries that keep them awake.

It is important for teens to develop regular sleep habits and sleeping in on weekends is not recommended, she said.

“If you sleep in until midday you throw your sleep cycles out of whack,” she said.

Teens should remove their mobile phones from their bedrooms at night and charge them in another room, removing the temptation to engage in social media or look at the light from the screen which can impede sleep.