HI, high schooler parent

Parent Cafe
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<p>How is your teenager’s energy level at home?</p>

<p>My son is 15 years old, and he looks tired all the time, when in shcool , since he is involved in many activities, definitely never get enough sleep, so I thought maybe the sleep deficiency is the reason. </p>

<p>However, in the summer, it’s been 4 weeks now since he came back from a very demanding math camp, and he has been sleep from 12pm - 11am almost every day, he still looks lazy and tired when he is awake. </p>

<p>I took him to see doctor, and doctor insisted that it’s a typical teenager syndrome, nothing to worry about; the doctor didn’t do any test. I never heard of that term. Not quit convinced.</p>

<p>Do any of you have tired teenager at home?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>My teenage son seems habitually tired…and bored. However, if a friend calls to go out, he suddenly becomes a bundle of energy.</p>

3

<p>one thing to look at is diet…some people are anemic and don’t know it </p>

<p>throw some vitamins with minerals, etc at him, can’t hurt, and may help</p>

4

<p>I was constantly tired pretty much from about 6th-7th grade until a bit into my freshmen year at college. I probably did end up getting about 7 hours of sleep on regular weeknights but I need about 9 to not be tired, and then I would try to sleep in on the weekends and recover only to have my mother come in at 10 and tell me to stop being lazy and lying around all day. Some people just sleep a lot more than others.</p>

5

<p>Is he really growing right now? My son was like that during his growth spurt (grew 6 inches in one year). I didn’t associate the two and took him to the doctor. He, too, said it was normal for a teenage boy. I made sure he took a multi-vitamin. He seemed to gain more energy by age 17.</p>

6

<p>A few years ago I did some research on this topic. Realize that most teenagers’ internal clocks do not allow them to really sleep early in the evening and many have to get up early for school. The pediatricians in MN thought that the increase in illnesses was due to sleep deprivation. So, the schools changed schedules - younger kids go earlier, high school later. Results: less doctors’ visits, kids had more energy, test results improved, behavior improved, and they found a correlation to ADD and ADHD kids not acting out as much with the new schedule. What a little more sleep can do!</p>

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<p>If he is really sleeping 23 hours a day he has a serious problem. If it is “only” 11 hours (did you mean from midnight to 11am?), still seems like too much, but not quite the same thing.</p>

<p>Or do you mean he sleeps UNTIL 11am or noon… If so, when does he go to bed?</p>

8

<p>I’m a girl, 18, and I need 10-12 hours to feel completely rested. But I can function fairly normally on little or no sleep at all. I only fell asleep during class in high school once, when I was doing a paper or project ( I don’t even remember now) and only got 45 minutes of sleep.</p>

9

<p>As an 18 year old boy, I won’t feel totally rested unless I get about 11 hours a night, which just isn’t possible outside of summer vacation. My high school started at about 7am which meant I was up at 5 every day. Needless to say I was incredibly tired all throughout high school, it was truly awful (I’d nap just about every day after school, except fridays lol). Most of my peers were the same way as I was, so I’d venture to say it’s pretty normal.</p>

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<p>Is he getting much exercise? A lack of physical activity can bring down the energy level of people of any age.</p>

11

<p>I am sorry if I didn’t state clearly about his sleep schedule, when I saying he sleeps from 12:00pm to 11:00am, I mean he goes to bed around midnight, and then gets up around next day noon time…most of the time at least over 10 hours of sleep.</p>

<p>He doesn’t do much physical activity, when he does, like swimming, he doesn’t have much speed or endurance either comparing to his younger sister (who is 11), he just looks slow and lazy most of the time.</p>

<p>But I have to admit that every time, after exercise or coming back from outside, he looks a lot energized.</p>

<p>He is tall for his age, ( 6 foot for a 15-yr-old ), but most of the growth happened last year, this summer, he didn’t grow much.</p>

<p>He has a lot of goal for himself, and wants to study a lot, but this tiresome makes him can’t stay focused for long, 2-3 hrs intense study can easily worn him out, so he gets frustrated to himself…can’t believe why 10 hrs of sleep can only sustain him 2-3 hr study, he complains that why he is feeling tired all the time, and he hates his body etc…which makes me very worried…</p>

<p>Your story makes me feel a lot of at easy now, I will share with him, and let him know that doctor could be right, at that age, feel tiresome is pretty normal…</p>

<p>but I think I would still like to check out further medically to ensure nothing is really wrong with him, is there any special doctor for this kind of symptom? or just pediatrician is ok?</p>

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<p>kluge is right. He MUST exercise every day. Teens do sleep quite a bit, but they shouldn’t feel tired & look sluggish all the time. If exercise doesn’t perk him up, start with the pediatrician. THat might lead to a referral, but I bet the exercise does the trick.</p>

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<p>That line bothers me a bit. Plenty of kids sleep a lot in the summer, especially if they don’t get a chance to sleep as much as they’d like the rest of the year, but that comment doesn’t sound exactly normal. </p>

<p>Mono is also a posibility…</p>

14

<p>Getting 11 hours of sleep a day? No wonder he is lethargic. Getting too much sleep always makes me feel that way.</p>

15

<p>Probably no excercise=slow metabolism=less energy=lazy. Get him to lift or run or something.</p>

16

<p>beck86nj:</p>

<p>What do you mean by ‘Mono’?</p>

<p>The reason he had said that, I am thinking, is that he has been wanting to do some self-studying for long. During school year, he can’t do it due to school’s heavy workload. so he had been aiming to do it during this summer. </p>

<p>he is trying to study college-level physics by himself. Although the topic is difficult, he can handle it and he was hoping to be able go through a lot during this summer, but his body doesn’t seem to support his ambition, he can only study 2-3 hrs on that topic a day, that’s why he is angry at his own body…</p>

<p>Being a mother, I just hope I can give him a lot of energy so he can get to do what he wants to do, I am making sure he takes his vitamin now, need to make sure he exercise too…if those will help.</p>

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<p>They mean mononucleosis, something we used to call ‘kissing disease’ because the most virulent forms seem to strike in teenagers who presumably have been kissing a lot. (The presumtions parents make!) In reality it’s one of the most common viruses around - over 90% of people test with mono antibodies, even though they never knew they had it. One of the first signs is exhaustion – also lingering cold symptoms – that no amount of rest gets rid of. It can take weeks or longer in bed to get over it. If your son persists in this lethargic state, you may want to ask for a blood test to at least rule it out.</p>

18

<p>Still have his tonsils? Does he snore? Allergies? Broken nose? Even though he may sleep 10 hours, how much real sleep is he getting?</p>

<p>Sleep apena occurs in youth for other reasons besides weight gain. Maybe a visit to an ear,nose and throat specialist might be in order. Some of the things you describe sound like he is not getting deep sleep when he sleeps.</p>

19

<p>Hi, katliamom:
Thanks for explaination, I definitely will take him to see doctor to rule that out…</p>

<p>OpiefromMayberry:
yes, he does sometime snore, and has very bad allergy in spring not in summer , I googled sleep apena, it seems my son may have that kind of problem, didn’t get quility sleep, another thing that I need to check it out…</p>

<p>Thanks to you all for the caring and suggestions. Now at least, I now where to go to have him been checked out. My insurance doesn’t ( new anetna HMO :-), so I don’t have to go back to that pediatrician to beg for referral since he strongly believe nothing is wrong without any scientific evidence, (meaning no test done at all) now I can just go to a nose, ear doctor to see if anything is wrong with his nose…oh, I still need to see Pediatrician for that Mono thing…</p>

<p>Thanks again, everyone here is so nice and eager to help.</p>

20

<p>You’re welcome amother – that’s what mothers are for. </p>

<p>Last word of advice: sometimes doctors resist doing blood tests. But if you’re seriously worried, insist on it, even if it takes a while to persuade them.<br>
I speak from personal experience. My 9 year old daughter had mono and it took forever to diagnose, in part because it was a fairly mild case. She was sick for a few days, then she’d get better. Sick for a few days, then get better. We repeatedly went to the doctor (a very good pediatrician whom I respect) and every time came home with a diagnosis of ‘it’s-some-sort-of-a-bug.’ Then we both got the flu. I recovered. She didn’t. Finally a round of blood tests revealed a white blood cell count so low, they screened for leukemia (!) before yet another test showed it to be mono. It all ended well, but it sure was no fun.</p>