Those with teenagers and presumably you have been one yourself, you always notice the late nights and long sleeping hours. Most people just assume this is laziness or teenage rebellion but it actually isn’t. Teenagers need more sleep during this phase of their life and naturally go to sleep later.

Why?

The reason why is still unknown and many sleep clinics and universities have come up with several theories including:

• Hormonal changes in the body, since they are released most when sleeping.
• Development of the brain.

What Ages Does This Affect?

By teenage years they are actually referring to anyone between the ages of 10 and 20.

How Much Sleep Should They Get?

This varies depending on who you speak to, but the general consensus is 8.5 to 10 hours per night, or .5 to 2 hours more than normal. Their peak mental alertness also occurs later in the day.

Should I Send Them To Bed Earlier?

Well here lies another problem. During these years teenagers are also biologically programmed to go to sleep later, normally around 11pm.  So if they do to sleep when they are naturally tired and require more sleep that means they would be waking up around 7:30am to 9:00am.

But today’s society doesn’t let this happen so many teenagers are actually sleep deprived, with the current statistic for American teenagers of only getting 7.4 hours of sleep per night, even short of a regular adults quota.

What Does Sleep Deprivation Do To Teenagers?

• Depression
• Overeating
• Irritable
• Lack Of Concentration
• Aggressive behavior
• More reliance on caffeine or stimulating drugs

What Can Be Done?

If you are homeschooling then it is easy to switch the schedules to suit them. If you are public or private schooling then there is no other alternative than sending them to bed earlier or letting them be sleep deprived. Either solution isn’t ideal. There have been calls in the USA and UK to start school later but this does not look like eventuating for many years or decades to come.

Photo Credit: Daniel Foster