Teen Sleep
- Amber Tout
- May 29, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 24
Teenagers aren't lazy – they're sleep deprived! Find out why early school start times and teen biology make a good night's sleep so difficult.
Calling people who prioritise their sleep 'lazy' (rather than 'sensible'!) is largely the result of modern-society valuing short-term financial gains over long-term health. If politicians and companies really want to maximise productivity in the long-term, then a well-slept, happy, and healthy population is key.
While a typical work day involves waking-up at the crack of dawn, worshipping coffee, and replying to stress-inducing emails late at night, the situation for teenagers isn't much better. In fact, for most teens, getting 9 hours of sleep per night may be unachievable for two key reasons: Early school start times and teen biology.
Unlike adults, who need 7–9 hours of sleep per night, teens aged 14 to 17 need 8–10 hours.
Early School Start Times
The average UK secondary school starts at 8.30am, while US schools have an even earlier start time of 8.00am. This means teens have to wake up very early to shower, dress, eat breakfast, and travel to school, with those heading to the bus stop or train station having to wake-up even earlier (and walk in the dark!). This is even harder for teens in rural areas, where journeys are longer and schools are further away.
To get the 8-10 hours of sleep they need, teens getting up for school at 6:30am would have to be asleep by 8.30pm—10.30pm.
Teen Biology
While falling asleep at 8.30pm might sound like a piece of cake to some, if you're familiar with teenagers - or if you're a teen yourself - this might sound impossible. This is because the teenage 'body clock' naturally runs two hours later than an adult's, meaning that staying-up 'late' and sleeping-in 'late' is a perfectly normal response to a perfectly normal biological signal.
Expecting a teen to go to bed at 8.30pm, is like asking an adult to go to bed at 6.30pm. Expecting a teen to wake up at 6.30am, is like asking an adult to wake-up at 4.30am. It's no wonder 20-30% of high school students report falling asleep in class every day!
This biological shift occurs in all teenagers regardless of country, culture, or societal expectations. By forcing our teens to get-up at 6.30am – a time that is still their biological night – we are depriving them of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep. REM sleep is essential for learning, memory, emotional processing and impulse-control – all things that are crucial to the developing brain (you can read more about the role of sleep in learning and memory in this post).
Many complaints regarding teen distractibility, irritability, and laziness are more likely to be signs of sleep deprivation. Sadly, the high levels of mental health problems and suicidality in the teenage population have also been linked to the high levels of sleep deprivation.
To make matters worse, due to the sleep deprivation that accumulates over the school week, many teens try to catch-up on sleep at the weekend. As a result, it may be quite normal for teens to sleep half the day away, hence the stereotype of 'lazy'. Unfortunately, just as teens begin to settle into their natural rhythms, it's Monday again, and they're hit with a double dose of social jet-lag.
Social jet-lag refers to extreme sleepiness caused by differences in weekday and weekend sleep times.
Interestingly, researchers are still unsure why teenage rhythms shift in this way, but some think it may help in the journey to independence.
During the teenage years, peer-relationships become more important than relationships with parents. Staying up late gives teens the time and freedom to explore and interact with their peers while adults are asleep, which in turn helps in the formation of new social bonds and learning experiences.
Thankfully, as research progresses, we are starting to see conversations between scientists and policy-makers. In the US, the desire for happy and healthy teenagers has led to the beginnings of change (find out more at www.letssleep.org and www.startschoolslater.net).
Research has shown that later school start-times lead to huge benefits for the younger generation, including improved academic performance, reduced anxiety and depression, reduced acts of aggression and delinquency, and even decreased car accidents.
In the meantime, to help our sleepy teens, we can do a number of things:
Understand! Hopefully articles like this will help to reverse the 'lazy' stereotype and open up an interesting conversation between teens, parents, educators, and policymakers. Talking about the importance of sleep and acknowledging the difficulties teens face is a great starting point for change.
Consistency is key. Don't overdo it at the weekend, or you'll suffer for it on Monday. Try to set a consistent and reasonable bedtime that allows for as close to 9 hours as possible.
Limit caffeine and energy drinks in the evening.
Create a bedtime routine. Try to start winding down an hour before bed. Replace stress and sources of blue-light with enjoyable, relaxing activities.
Create a good sleep environment. Try and keep the bedroom dark, cool and tidy. Avoid doing your work in bed to avoid associating your bed with stress and activity. Keep the phone out of the bedroom, or at least turn off your notifications as they can disturb sleep.
For teenagers, 9-hours of sleep per night may be an unachievable goal in light of early school start times and body clocks. The stereotypically 'lazy' teen is more likely to be a sleep-deprived victim of an unsympathetic society. Consequently, if we want our future generations to be happy, healthy, and ready to learn, then we must let them sleep.
References:
Bryant, N. B., & Gómez, R. L. (2015). The teen sleep loss epidemic: What can be done?. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1(1), 116.
Danner, F., & Phillips, B. (2008). Adolescent sleep, school start times, and teen motor vehicle crashes. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 4(6), 533-535.
Fitzgerald, C. T., Messias, E., & Buysse, D. J. (2011). Teen sleep and suicidality: results from the youth risk behavior surveys of 2007 and 2009. Journal of clinical sleep medicine.
Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: The new science of sleep and dreams. Penguin UK.
