3 Tips to Help Your Sleepy Teen Get Out of Bed Every Morning

Your teen slept through his alarm again. It is the third time this morning you’ll have to yell at him to get up for school. You go through this every morning; even getting him up at a decent hour on the weekends is a huge hassle. “There has got to be an easier way!” you think to yourself.

Well, yes, there is. But first, you need to remember your teen’s body is going through a whole host of hormonal, physical and emotional changes which impacts everything-even their sleep pattern. Sleep quality is critical for teens-after all, they don’t have to deal with just school; they may have a part-time job, and need to decide what they want to do with the rest of their life.

All of this takes a toll on their physical and mental energy, which is why they need lots of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation states teens need eight to ten hours of sleep every night and a teen’s sleep pattern shifts to later times. In other words, your teen will find it abnormal to go to sleep before 11:00 pm. So, with that in mind, don’t force your teen to go to bed at an early hour, but instead make sure he’s in bed by 11:00 pm, which will allow him to get as much sleep as he can.

But there is still the problem of how to get out of bed and out the door for school. One of these four tips might do the trick.

1. Welcome the Noise

Unless your young adult is an extremely deep sleeper, there is no way he will be able to sleep through a lot of clamor around the house. What can you do? Well, there are several things.

Put a radio or CD player just inside his bedroom door-but make sure he can’t reach it from his bed. Select a genre of music he dislikes-maybe it’s country, opera or easy listening/folk. Turn on the CD or radio and turn it up. The only way he can turn the “horrible music” off is to crawl out of his comfy bed.

If he’s lucky enough to have brothers and sisters who are younger than he, why not let them play in his room? Give them toys that create loud sounds and encourage them to be as noisy as they want.

If he’s an only child or the youngest in the family, you can always go the traditional route. Grab a wooden or metal spoon, a pot, and create a one-person band. March into his room, banging on the back of the pan with the spoon and singing some silly song at the top of your lungs. Don’t stop until he’s off his mattress!

It’s true, with these noise-making ideas he will not like you much for a few hours, but he will certainly be up for the day.

2. Let There Be Light

Who doesn’t like waking up to the morning sun streaming into their bedroom? Well, okay, besides your slumbering teenager. Sunlight makes a great alarm clock because it stops your sleep hormone, melatonin, from being released. It will make you more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to goforth with your day.

So when it’s time for your teen to get up, go into his room, open his shades and give him a healthy dose of glorious sunshine. You may hear plenty of grumbling or even a bit of yelling; he may even try to snuggle more under his covers. If that’s the case, throwback his covers so he can’t ignore the beautiful morning sun.

During those dark winter mornings, perhaps a terrific investment would be a wake-up light, which imitates the sunrise. What a neat invention!

He may not see you as his favorite person at the time, but he will get up!

3. Manipulate Time

It would be cool if you could manipulate time like on sci-fi movies. But, sadly, you can’t. What you can do is ensure all family members are up a bit earlier than usual—even if it’s only 10 minutes earlier. Those 10 minutes could also mean he’ll leave the house on time.

On the other hand, if he’s tough to move from his bed then the extra 10 minutes to just lay there before he must rise could be the thing he needs to help his wake up time go smoothly.