Teens & Their Sleep


Wonder why teens are always tired, even though they’re getting 7, 8 hours of sleep? It turns out that not only do teenagers need more sleep than adults, but melatonin (a naturally occurring hormone that tells the body it is time to go to sleep) is dispersed later in teens and kids making it harder to go to bed early.

Most high school schedules start earlier than middle schools and elementary schools. This has posed a question for some schools in the U.S. about teenager’s performance in school and their sleeping habits. Staying up late doing homework or hanging out with friends and then having to wake up at 5:30, 6:00 is a recipe for another sleeping student in class. In places like Idaho, some high schools have began an experiment on the alertness and academic success in schools. To test this, the school day began later to allow more time for teens to sleep in.

Sleeping in Class

Lack of sleep affects more than just school academics. It negatively affects athletic performance, focus levels during driving, and overall health and well being. About 1,500 people each year between the ages of 15 - 24 are killed because of being tired behind the wheel. Sleep deprivation slows down reaction time, alertness, brain function, and so much more.

Sleep plays a key role in our lives because without it we just don’t function properly. So let your teens get enough sleep so they can perform properly, and maybe think before you get frustrated by the long hours into the day that they tend to sleep on weekends.

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4 Comments

  1. Comment by Hope on October 24, 2008 2:54 pm

    yeah, but if high schools were to start later, they would also get out later which means kids will be spending more time on homework because they get out later. so i don’t see how it would make much of a difference…

  2. Comment by Nero on November 25, 2008 6:03 pm

    They wouldn’t spend more time on– Honestly? Who’s letting these people comment? Isn’t their a pop quiz we need to pass first? Hey, what’s thirteen times two? 25? Sorry, no commenting for you.

    They wouldn’t spend more time on their homework, they’d end their homework later. The time they get out has nothing to do with the amount they recieve.

  3. Comment by Piratical Lord of the Guitars on December 24, 2008 12:34 pm

    Lol he has a point…as usual.

  4. Comment by Piratical Lord of the Guitars on December 24, 2008 12:34 pm

    omg! 12:34 make a wish!

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