Teenagers are known to sleep more than just about everyone, and it is typically recommended that they get more than eight hours of sleep per night to stay healthy and well-rested.
Inadequate sleep can have negative effects on everyone, regardless of age. Sleep allows the brain to re-charge and retain new information.
Sleep deprivation can cause people to exercise poor judgment, behave irritably, and forget things more easily. It can also make activities like driving more dangerous, especially for younger, inexperienced drivers.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is defined in an article for News Fix as a “debilitating fatigue that lasts more than 6 months and cannot be attributed to other medical conditions.” In teenagers, it can have some unique effects on mental health.
According to research from London mentioned in the News Fix article, there is a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders in adolescents who have chronic fatigue syndrome.
This means that teens who struggle with chronic fatigue may be more susceptible to conditions like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and panic disorder.
The researchers found that teens who have chronic fatigue syndrome are also more likely than healthy adolescents to suffer from depression.
It is unclear whether there is a biological link between chronic fatigue and anxiety or depression. Does being depressed or anxious predispose people to chronic fatigue syndrome, or is it the other way around?
Hopefully further research will provide us with the answers to these questions and more.
Read the article mentioned above at the link here:
http://www.newsfix.ca/2013/07/26/anxiety-disorders-chronic-fatigue-linked-in-teens/
