A detailed survey of the sleep habits of around 5,000 teenagers in the west of Ireland is taking place this month.
The survey is taking place as part of the third phase of the Planet Youth project which has been piloted in Roscommon, Mayo and Galway since 2018.
The concept of the scheme is to identify issues and problems for young people early on, and try to address them before they start to seriously affect their lives.
Emmet Major who's Planet Youth Co-Ordinator says the findings of a survey carried out two years ago led to them wanting to explore the issue in more detail.
He says the last survey showed that around 60% of young students were getting the bare minimum or less when it came to sleep.
All the kids who were sleeping well are doing better in every single way, dramatically better, for mental health, for schoolwork, for self-image , for self-esteem, for physical health , you care to name it , it all seems to be closely tied in to the amount of sleep they're getting.
Two special webinars on the importance of sleep for school children are being hosted by Planet Youth this week.
The first, focusing on the importance of sleep for national school children in taking place tonight from 7pm to 9.30pm, and the second which will focus on the importance of sleep for teenagers will take place tomorrow night at 7pm.
Anyone interested can register on the Planet Youth website.
