Teenage girls don’t sleep as well as boys, making it harder for them to stay awake in school and participate in activities.

That’s the upshot from a recent study by Canadian researchers, who examined the sleep habits and daytime functioning of more than 700 adolescents. Girls reported a higher degree of problems stemming from daytime sleepiness. That included missing school more often than boys due to sleepiness and having less motivation in school.

The girls in the study also reported more problems staying awake in class and while doing homework than boys. Study results show they also reported napping more on the weekends than boys. Energy drinks and coffee weren’t factors in the difference: Both boys and girls said they used them in about the same proportion, the researchers found.

The findings, researchers concluded, suggest that teenage girls might be more vulnerable than boys when it comes to the negative effects of sleep changes.

If your kids aren’t sleeping well, the American Association of Sleep Technologists has some advice: Make them turn off all electronic devices before they get into bed. Keep your teen’s room cool — about 68 degrees. Turn on lights or open window shades when they wake up. That helps “reset” their brain to encourage an earlier bedtime.

High-carbohydrate snacks also can help with sleeplessness, so consider pretzels, cereal, fruit or other high-carb foods if your teen has trouble falling asleep. Those snacks tend to make people warm and sleepy.

When teenagers sleep in or take naps on the weekend, it’s not necessarily laziness. For girls especially, they might just be catching up on lost sleep.