Teens and Sleep Needs
By: Marie Zenack

Sleep is nature's way of renewing and maintaining balance-physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Teenagers need about 9.5 hours of sleep each night. It is thought that sleep requirements increase for teens because the hormones that are essential for maturing bodies are released mainly during sleep. Yet studies show that most teenagers only get about 7.4 hours of sleep a night. This is not enough for a teen to be healthy.

Lack of sleep leaves us confused and undirected, open to the chaotic influences of others who are also sleep-deprived. Deep and regular sleep keeps us in close contact with our own inner knowing and moves us steadily toward the accomplishment of our own goals.

Regular sleep is also the basis for developing clear intuition, that inner voice that represents our truest desires. Throughout history wise men and women have used the quiet night hours to get in touch with their intuitive knowing. Try this simple practice: wait until you are in bed, quiet and relaxed, just before falling asleep. If there is something that you need or want, make your request or ask your question of the Divine within you. Fall asleep naturally. In the morning, do not jump up immediately. Wait for a few minutes, expectantly but not anxiously, to see if some intuitive "knowing" comes to you. Do not be discouraged if it doesn't. It takes time to develop intuition. And the answer may come later on in some quiet moment, when you least expect it. Answers from the Indwelling Divine fill us with peace and security. We know with confidence how to proceed. Or we know with confidence that we are protected and guided.

If you are having trouble staying on top of life, try going to bed early and getting 9.5 hours of sleep each night. Many of the answers you seek may be no farther away than your own pillow.

About The Author Marie Zenack is a teacher of fertility awareness and a facilitator of women's rites of passage. http://www.menstrual-cycle-period.com/.

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