On average, high schoolers are getting only 7-7.25 hours of sleep per night (Nationwide Children’s Hospital). The CDC recommends that teenagers get around 8-10 hours of sleep per night. The lack of sleep in teens has a plethora of causes, including early high school start times, social and school obligations, and a delay in their internal clock (Child Mind Institute). Stanford Medicine states that about 87% of high school students get far less than 8-10 hours of sleep per night, which can lead to many other social, emotional, and/or medical issues( med.stanford.edu).
Sleep is incredibly important, especially in developing teens. It is where our bodies repair themselves, release essential hormones, consolidate memories, enhance brain plasticity, and prevent health risks such as high blood pressure and immune system dysfunction ( according to John Hopkins Medicine and The Mayo Clinic. Mark Wu, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist and sleep expert at Johns Hopkins University, says, “There are many important connections between health and sleep.”
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 42% of all high schools start between 7:30 am and 7:59 am. This means that students have to wake up incredibly early to make it to school on time, and if they need to take the bus, wake-up time is even earlier. Students nowadays also have large amounts of homework, keeping them up even later. Surveys report that high schools assign an average of 3.5 hours of homework per night, causing students to sleep less than a desirable amount (Education Weekly). This leads teenagers to stay up late into the night, as well as increasing stress, causing teens to not be able to sleep enough. A delay in the teens’ internal clock is also causing a lack of sleep in teens. Your internal clock is called your circadian rhythm, which is “the pattern your body follows based on a 24-hour day,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. This rhythm tells your body when to wake up and when to go to sleep, and it affects processes like digestion, hormone production, and body temperature. Some things that influence your circadian rhythm are stress levels, food intake, physical activity, mental health, caffeine intake, and, most of all, sleep habits. Teens currently going to sleep later and waking up earlier throws off the body’s circadian rhythm, meaning your biological clock is not aligned with the 24-hour day/night cycle (Cleveland Clinic). Having a disoriented circadian rhythm affects your body in many different ways, such as metabolic issues, chronic sleep deprivation, weakened immunity, increased stress, and cardiovascular risks.
Another contributor to teens’ lack of sleep could possibly be a sleep disorder. Sleep disorders “involve problems with the quality, timing, and amount of sleep, which result in daytime distress and impairment in functioning” (psychiatry.org). According to UCLA Health, teens can deal with several disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, mental health problems (depression, anxiety, chronic stress, etc.), as well as other medical conditions that affect sleep, like epilepsy or asthma.
Because sleep is so important, you should prioritize your quality of sleep. According to Harvard Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine, some ways to ensure a good night’s sleep are taking 30 to 45 minutes to wind down without screens before bedtime, going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day, studying outside your bedroom so it remains a place of rest, reduce or mask light and noise, and keep the temperature at around 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dr. Sonal Malhotra from Baylor College of Medicine says that “Sleep is just as important as having volunteering, sports, and good grades on a college application” and “Teens should be able to give themselves a little grace in their schoolwork so that their health isn’t sacrificed for a good grade” (bcm.edu).
