Sleep. No teenager has ever gone through high school without wishing they had gotten more sleep. It’s an issue that we all have to deal with.

Everyone has had nights where practice ran late and after eating dinner at rapid speed you spend the next hours cramming for a final the next morning. When the alarm goes off the next morning you can barely find the energy to get up.

According to the American Sleep Disorders Association, teenagers should be getting 9.5 hours of sleep every night. But studies have shown that the average teenagers only get 7.4 hours of sleep every night.

Believe it or not, teenagers require more sleep than 9 and 10 year olds! The average 9-10 year old requires around 8 hours of sleep.

Here are some symptoms of sleep deprivation:

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Difficulty waking in the morning

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Irritability in the afternoon

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Falling asleep during the day

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Oversleeping on the weekend

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Having difficulty remembering or concentrating

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Waking up often and having trouble going back to sleep

Although not getting enough sleep may not seem like that big of a deal, it can cause major problems. Sleep deprivation can cause extreme moodiness, poor performance in school, and depression. It raises the risk of teenage car accidents, too.

But sleeping too much is dangerous as well. Sleep is a very important thing to keep track of. You have to have it, but you can’t abuse it either.