Ashton Smither is 10 years old and says, "I'm tired, I didn't go to sleep very- I didn't get any sleep."
So Ashton goes to a sleep lab, where doctors hope to diagnose her insomnia. Asthon's father, Sean says, "She was being very irritable during the day. Very tired. We noticed that she was getting up a lot during the night, too."
According to a study by the University of Texas, almost half of kids ages 11 - 17 experience symptoms of insomnia.
For 22 percent of teens, it's serious enough to require treatment.
Richard Winer, a Psychiatrist says, "But the key is proper diagnosis and evaluation prior to the treatment taking place."
Experts say sleep can be interrupted by snoring, sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, as well as psychological symptoms like depression and anxiety. "There are kids who are working tremendous numbers of hours each evening to get their schoolwork done, and in conjunction with that I get a sense that many of them worry about how they are doing academically, and that tends to spill over into difficulties with sleep."
What can parents do? Experts say set a regular sleep schedule, take all electronics out of the bedroom - - including cell phones - - and if symptoms persist for more than a month - - see a doctor.
Ashton's problem was restless leg syndrome. With medication and her doctors advice, she's improving. Her dad says, "They've given us the advice to structure her sleep time and get the rest of the family structured as well, and that's really helped."
Studies have shown that once girls reach puberty, they're two and a half times more likely than boys to experience chronic or recurrent insomnia.
