Adolescents are notorious for not getting enough sleep. The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep).
Sleep research suggests that a teenager needs between eight and 10 hours of sleep every night. This is more than the amount a child or an adult needs. Yet most adolescents only get about 6.5 – 7.5 hours sleep per night, and some get less. Regularly not getting enough sleep leads to chronic sleep deprivation.
According to Johns Hopkins pediatrician Michael Crocetti, M.D., M.P.H. , teens need 9 to 9½ hours of sleep per night—that's an hour or so more than they needed at age 10. Why? “Teenagers are going through a second developmental stage of cognitive maturation,” explains Crocetti.
It's not unheard of for a teenager to occasionally sleep 12 hours — teens need 8-10 hours a night. However, if your teen is sleeping through their weekend or crashing as soon as they get home from school, it's cause for concern. Excessive sleepiness in teenagers is often a sign of teen fatigue syndrome.
During sleep, the body releases hormones that fuel physical growth and development, brain circuitry, and sexual maturation. Between 14 and 17, teens should get between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night.
More than half of teen ages 15 and older sleep less than seven hours per night, and about 85% of teens get less than the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Age 14-15 seems to be a big turning point for sleep deprivation, a year when teens experience the greatest drop in hours of sleep per night.
Fatigue is a common among teens. Sometimes, your teen may have fatigue for months or even years and may develop symptoms of "chronic fatigue syndrome."
Even if your child is oversleeping to cope with teenage fatigue, sleeping too much can negatively affect their circadian rhythm. This may leave them even more tired, not unlike being perpetually jet-lagged.
While almost everyone has heard about the importance of sleep, it can be difficult to know exactly how much sleep is necessary. Experts recommend between seven and nine hours of sleep every day for most adults, which means that seven hours is just enough for the majority of people.
“There is no such thing as a “fixed or ideal time” to go to bed which will suit all individuals. It is generally advisable to fall asleep between 10 pm to midnight as for most people this is when the circadian rhythm is at a point that favours falling asleep.”
Sleep and Aging
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night. But, older people tend to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier than they did when they were younger. There are many reasons why older people may not get enough sleep at night.
This is a time of changes for how teenagers think, feel, and interact with others, and how their bodies grow. Most girls will be physically mature by now, and most will have completed puberty. Boys might still be maturing physically during this time. Your teen might have concerns about her body size, shape, or weight.
Teenagers stay up late for three main reasons. First, biological shifts in the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, make teens stay up later. Second, social media can keep kids up and blue light from devices suppresses melatonin production. Third, having a lot of homework can keep kids up late.
A single night of no sleep will not stunt growth. But over the long term, a person's growth may be affected by not getting the full amount of sleep. That's because growth hormone is normally released during sleep.
It's the regularity that's essential. So while teens should not be sleeping all day, a later bed time and later wake time are fine, as long as they sleep between 8.5 to 9.5 hours a day.
A single night of no sleep will not stunt growth. But over the long term, a person's growth may be affected by not getting the full amount of sleep. That's because growth hormone is normally released during sleep.
Causes of sleep issues in teens
Rapid body changes, especially in adolescence, can disrupt sleep. This happens because the growth phase they're in causes their circadian rhythm—the body's internal clock—to reset, delaying their sleep cycle. Stress, anxiety, and worry are other common reasons for sleep problems.
The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep). Teenagers do not get enough sleep for a number of reasons: Shift in sleep schedule.
Today, some girls begin to show signs of puberty as early as 7 or 8 years old. One change in the body during puberty is closely related to how you sleep. There is a shift in the timing of your circadian rhythms.
Hypersomnia is excessive sleepiness. There are many causes of excessive sleepiness, including insufficient or inadequate sleep, sleep disorders, medications and medical or psychiatric illnesses. The characteristics of hypersomnia vary from one person to the next depending on age, lifestyle and underlying causes.
Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, but on average adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep each day. Babies and young children need much more sleep, but from young adulthood sleep needs remain relatively stable.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers less than seven hours per night to be short sleep. View Source , which means for most people, six hours of sleep is not enough.
The Australian Department of Health recommends between nine and 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep for young people aged 12–13 years and between eight and 10 hours of sleep for those aged 14–17 years.