Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for The Conversation, Adriana Galván shares her research into sleep-deprivation and shares a simple solution she has found: providing adolescents with a good pillow.

· How much sleep should teenagers get every night? What are some causes of insomnia? How does anxiety contribute to sleep-deprivation? 

· Here's how more sleep could help students perform better academically. 

Healthy sleep leads to healthy brains. Neuroscientists have gotten that message out. But parents, doctors and educators alike have struggled to identify what to do to improve sleep. Some have called for delaying school start times or limiting screentime before bed to achieve academic, health and even economic gains.

Still, recent estimates suggest that roughly half of adolescents in the United States are sleep-deprived. These numbers are alarming because sleep is particularly important during adolescence, a time of significant brain changes that affect learning, self-control and emotional systems. And sleep deficits are even greater in economically disadvantaged youthcompared to more affluent counterparts.

Research from my developmental neuroscience lab shows one solution to the sleep deprivation problem that is deceptively simple: provide teens with a good pillow. Because getting comfortable bedding does not involve technology, expensive interventions or lots of time, it may be particularly beneficial for improving sleep among underresourced adolescents.

Read the full article about helping sleep-deprived teens by Adriana Galván at The Conversation.