AUSTIN (KXAN) —As the school year gets busier, students are bound to stay up later for study sessions or finishing homework, at the price of their sleep. Dr. Nitun Verma with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) said students ages six through 12 need nine to 12 hours of sleep, while older students, aged 13 through 18, may need eight to ten hours. A lack of sleep can cause irritation, an increase in stress and possibly anxiety and depression, according to Verma. These factors can combine and negatively affect academic performance. How to improve mental health resources for students: Austin community weighs in But the answer is not necessarily just more sleep. "If someone is getting too much sleep, it makes me worry and wonder about the quality of sleep that they're getting," Verma said. "It might be useful to talk to a doctor, just to ensure is the quality of sleep appropriate and healthy" Getting higher quality sleep starts before climbing into bed. "The brain doesn't have an on-and-off switch, right?" Verma said. "So we won't be able to multitask, be full of stress, and hit the light switch and expect that our brain is hitting a light switch as well. That switch takes a few hours of work." What’s the best number of alarms? Sleep experts answer He recommends turning off screens several hours before bedtime to signal to the brain that it is time to wind down for the night. Instead of immediately trying to change your student's sleep habits, Verma suggests treating it like an experiment over the course of several weeks and checking in with them to assess the results. "Do you feel different? Are you doing homework faster? The best way of thinking about sleep is treating it like an investment rather than a cost," Verma said. The AASM has resources for parents and students to learn more about healthy sleep habits.