How much sleep do teenagers need?

Why is sleep so important for teenagers?

Sleep is an essential part of life. Getting regular, good quality sleep is important for our mental and physical health, and can play a big part in regulating your mood. Not getting enough sleep can affect your metabolism and immune system. It can also make it hard to focus and think.

But the amount of sleep you need to function properly depends on your age. As adults, we should spend roughly a third of our day (8 hours) sleeping. While newborns and children younger than 12 need even more sleep.

For teenagers, getting enough sleep can help them to:

• grow and develop
• pay attention and concentrate at school
• learn and remember
• regulate their moods and maintain healthy relationships
• maintain a healthy weight
• look after their mental health
• drive more safely (if they’re old enough to drive)

How much sleep does a teenager need?

It’s recommended that teenagers get around 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night. But most teenagers aren’t getting enough sleep.

There are lots of things that might be keeping teenagers up at night. These include:

• feeling stressed or under pressure from school, homework or extracurricular commitments
• worries about friendships, relationships, and family life
• watching TV, gaming, texting, or scrolling on social media at bedtime
• after-school jobs
• caffeine consumption
• sleep disorders, such as sleep apnoea

Why do teenagers go to sleep late?

Although social media, technology, and pressures from society are partly to blame for keeping teenagers up at night, biology also plays a role. This is because the body’s natural sleep pattern, hormones, and circadian rhythm change during adolescence. The circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock that regulates your sleep-wake cycle.

During puberty, the circadian cycle of teenagers shifts so that they feel tired later in the day. This means that teenagers will naturally fall asleep later. Many teenagers also tend to stay up late and lie in late on the weekends, which can disrupt sleeping patterns.

Research has also found that teenagers produce melatonin later at night than adults. Melatonin is a hormone produced by your body in response to darkness. It makes you feel tired and tells your body that it’s time to sleep.

Blue light from electronic devices used at night can also disrupt the production of melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep. This means teenagers often feel more awake in the evenings and tired in the mornings. They may struggle to wake up for school too.

Teenagers who find it hard to wake up in the mornings may feel groggy and want to go back to sleep. This is known as sleep inertia and it can affect how you think, remember, and learn. Although it usually lasts around half an hour, if your teenager is sleep deprived it could last even longer.

Six tips for teens to get a good night’s sleep

Good sleep hygiene can help improve sleep. Try these six tips to help your teenager get a good night’s rest.

• 1. Establish a sleep routine. Agree a schedule with your teenager so that they go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day, including weekends.


• 2. Create a sleep ritual. Get your teenager into the habit of doing something relaxing every evening before bed, to prepare their body for sleep. For example, they could try having a bath or reading a book.


• 3. Reduce caffeine before bed. Caffeine found in tea, coffee, chocolate and some fizzy drinks can stimulate your nervous system, keeping you awake. It can take several hours for the body to process caffeine, so avoid consuming caffeine in the afternoon and evening.


• 4. Limit screen time before bed. The blue light you get from electrical devices can disrupt the hormones that signal to your body to sleep. This can make it more difficult to drift off. So leave TVs, phones, tablets and computers out of the bedroom. Ideally, your teenager should stop using them at least an hour before they intend to sleep.


• 5. Keep organised. Don’t leave homework and studying until late at night. You could also encourage your teenager to make a to-do list. This can help them stay on top of things and quiet a busy mind before bed.


• 6. Exercise regularly. Physical activity can help relieve stress, improve mood, and help you sleep. Encourage your teenager to move each day, but try to avoid high-intensity exercise immediately before bed. This could leave them feeling too energised and unable to sleep. Instead, a gentle stroll in the fresh air or some relaxing yoga before bedtime may help them sleep better.

If your teenager still isn’t sleeping well and it’s having a negative impact on how they feel, it may be due to an underlying sleep disorder. If you’re worried, speak to your GP for advice.