Not getting enough sleep at night could have worse side effects for teenagers than having puffy eyes and a bad attitude in the morning.

A recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation has found that almost 80 percent of adolescents are sleeping for around seven and a half hours each night — two hours less than health professionals recommend for people aged 11 to 17.

Such a marked sleep deficit could affect the brain's development and increase the chances of a teenager developing attention deficit disorder and other cognitive problems, Dr Nancy Snyderman reported in the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams series "The Teen Brain: A Work in Progress".

Studies have found that during the teenage years the brain is going through a high development phase, a lot of which occurs during sleep — using the body's time offline to "hook up" new circuitry in the brain, NBC Nightly News reported.

"We can see during sleep the emergence of new networks," Brown University's Dr Mary Carskadon said.

"So, we know that sleep has a fundamental role in protecting and growing and strengthening the brain — and strengthening what we've learned."

In the later teenage years particularly, a lot of development occurs in the frontal lobes — the part of the brain responsible for attention, short-term memory, impulse control and decision-making, the US National Institute of Mental Health's Dr Jay Giedd said.

"The sleep changes that we're seeing in ages 16 to 18, I think, reflect this really busy time in the frontal lobe parts of the brain," Dr Giedd said.

"All the things that the frontal lobes of the brain help us do — control impulses, make long-term decisions, sort out complicated priorities — get worse with sleep deprivation."

Teenagers can have difficulty going to bed early — often renowned for being night owls playing computer games and the like late into the night. Experts suggest setting a firm bedtime and banning TVs, computers and mobile phones from the bedroom can prevent teens from becoming overstimulated before going to bed — making it easier for them to fall asleep.

Getting them to adhere to these bans and early bedtime, of course, is where the challenge lies.

Your say: What are your tips for getting teens to bed at a reasonable hour?