Is Your Teen Getting Enough Sleep?

Shouting, tickling, siblings or pets jumping on the bed—these are methods desperate parents use to wake a seemingly comatose teen in time for school.

High school teachers regularly face first-period classrooms in which the majority of teens sit, dazed and uncomprehending, or sleep outright.

Research suggests that laziness, late-night texting and overconsumption of jolting energy drinks can’t take the full blame for teen inertia in the morning as much as parents might like to think so. Teens need at least nine hours of sleep a night, according to the National Sleep Foundation. On average, teens get 7 1/2 hours of sleep, and many get less, particularly those students with heavy class schedules, jobs and multiple extracurricular activities. 

To get nine hours of shut-eye, teens have to be in bed early in order to be up, showered, dressed, fed, out the door and at school before the late bell peals, often before 8 a.m.

Even teens who do make it to bed at a reasonable hour may not fall asleep. That’s because the sleep-wake cycle undergoes a change in adolescence, shifting the production of melatonin, the hormone produced by the pineal gland, later into the night. Melatonin maintains the body’s circadian rhythm, and helps regulate sleep.

A Brown University study on adolescent sleep cycles showed that teens’ melatonin secretions began later in the evening and shut off later in the morning. This shift in teens’ internal clocks means that the drive to go to bed later and get up later is physiological, not necessarily the hallmark of a slacker.

Sleep deprivation in teens has serious consequences. There are the mood changes that can turn your teen into a monosyllabic, glowering creature. Lack of sleep is also linked to increased tardiness and absenteeism, and lower academic performance.

Tired teens gain more weight and have poor nutrition; they may have no time for breakfast or increase their caffeine intake to try to wake up. Most serious of all, fatigue raises the risk of accident and injury.

School districts in Minnesota, Colorado, Kentucky, Virginia and Massachusetts are among those that have moved middle and high school start times ahead by one hour to accommodate adolescents’ sleep-wake cycles. Some reports from these districts show better attendance, fewer students falling asleep in class and improved grades, but broader and more rigorous studies are needed to confirm the relationship between a later bell and higher academic performance.

If back-to-school has you dreading a return to the pattern of hectic mornings and sleepy teens, try to create a new routine this year.

Suggest 30 minutes of electronic-free time before bed, during which phones and computers are shut off to give your teen a chance to wind down before going to sleep. Work with your teen on getting as much done the night before as possible: backpack packed, clothes laid out, lunch or lunch money ready.

Engage your teens in making mornings run smoothly by asking what they think would help. Those teens who don't stir to the shrillest alarm clock might be able to work out another system that works for them.