How Much Sleep Is Your Teenager Getting?

26th August 2024 0 Comments

How much sleep do teenagers need?

The average teen needs about 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night to feel alert and perform at their best during their waking hours. However because their bodies are biologically programmed to stay up late, it can be difficult for them to get the sleep they need on a routine basis. Add to that the growing list of demands on their time such as school work, screen time, social media and friends; it’s not surprising that teens are at such high risk for sleep deprivation.

According to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (2021), 38% of 11 to 16-year-olds and 57% of 17 to 23-year-olds were affected by sleep problems on three or more nights a week.

What’s the impact of lack of sleep on your teenager?

We know from the ever-growing body of evidence the impact poor sleep is having on young bodies and minds.

Research shows that ‘night owl,’ teenagers who prefer to go to bed late but have to get up early for school, have a higher waist circumference and greater abdominal fat deposition (adiposity) than the ‘morning larks,’ those who prefer to go to bed early and get up early to begin their day.
Recent studies have considerably clarified the relationship between lack of sleep on young people’s mood, emotion regulation, planning, decision-making judgement and moderation of social behaviours.
Young people who are not sleeping well are more vulnerable to sensation-seeking behaviours, substance abuse, oppositional behaviour, moodiness, irritability and anxiety.

Why has your teen become a night owl

Teenagers naturally fall asleep later and wake later in the day. You might find it frustrating that your 13-year-old turns the alarm clock off in the morning to try and glean an extra hour’s sleep leaving them seconds to get ready before they rush out the door, but remember that most teens’ natural sleep cycle puts them in conflict with school start times.

By measuring the presence of melatonin in teenagers’ saliva at different times of the day, we know melatonin levels rise later at night in teenagers and remain at a higher level later in the morning. This natural shift in melatonin production, known as a phase delay, means your teen may seem full of energy in the evening and struggle to get to sleep, then can’t get up in time for school and seems sluggish and sleepy in the morning.

Teens Sleep-Wake Cycle- delayed melatonin production

2006 American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Researchers at Oxford University are exploring the benefits of later school start times, as studies have found that when teens start school later:

They sleep longer.
Surprisingly they don’t stay up as late at night when their school start times change.
They perform better and get higher grades.
Fewer students seek help from counsellors and nurses.
Sick days and tardiness decrease.
Parents report their teenagers are easier to live with and more connected at home.
Car accidents among teen drivers drop significantly.

What can you do to help your teen?

We know that to help our children reach their best potential and for them to lead healthy and happy lives, the best thing we can do is to help them improve their sleep.

So how can you work with these developmental changes and help your young person plan their time and make healthy life choices in a world where sleep seems a low priority?

Educate yourself about sleep. One of the most important ways you can help your teen sleep better is to understand why sleep is so important; research has shown the more we understand about sleep, the more sleep we will have.
Explore ways to help them and how you can make sleep a lifestyle priority for the whole family, so you act as a good example to your teen.
Encourage your teen to have a consistent regular sleeping pattern throughout the week and weekend. Studies have shown where there are parent-set bedtimes during the week children had earlier bedtimes, gained more sleep and had improved daytime functioning.
Discuss a bedtime and waking time that they feel is reasonable and that allows them to get the right amount of sleep each night.
At the weekends they can enjoy a lie-in, however, it’s best to cap it at an hour extra to help keep their body clock on track. Sleeping in too long or too late in the day is likely to affect the following night’s bedtime and shift their body clock later. Many teens use the weekend to try to catch up on their accrued sleep debt. They may be interested to know a sleep debt can never be fully paid back and if a large debt has built up over the week, a weekend is not long enough to rebalance the lack of sleep. Sleeping in at the weekend will also just reinforce the shift in their body clock and they are more likely to continue to feel jet-lagged, groggy and exhausted.

teens sleep

To help keep your teen’s body clock on track, lights dim in the evening but in the morning open the curtains to let the light.
Scientific research shows that screens have a direct impact on sleep. Negotiate when screen time is going to end, bearing in mind screens need to be off an hour before sleep. You may need to have a family rule of no phones in bedrooms.

Negotiate a cut-off time for gaming and films; not only will the light from devices impact melatonin production but your teen’s brain also needs time to relax and calm before bed.
Encourage your young person to have more exercise during the day. Think of alternative types of exercise such as yoga. Think outside the box and consider meditation with them. This has been proven to improve the length and quality of sleep.
Avoid any caffeine drinks from 5.00 pm; caffeine has a half-life of 5 hours and could interfere with your teen’s sleep onset.

caffeine

Encourage them to do homework earlier in the evening. The bonus is they will be able to relax and have their own time once it’s all done.
It’s best to avoid discussions or arguments with your teen just before bedtime. If they have particular concerns they want to go through with you it’s best to do this 1:1 in a quiet room before they start getting ready for bed. Having these conversations once they are in bed is likely to prevent them from falling asleep.

teens sleep

Have a warm bath before bed. This will help trigger melatonin and relax your teen (and the bonus of extra time in the morning)
Rather than screens encourage them to read a book before lights out.

reading at bedtime

Try suggesting they keep a diary or to-do lists. Jotting down notes before sleep means they’ll be less likely to stay awake worrying or stressing.
And if they must nap, they should keep it to under an hour.

This article was written by Mandy Gurney- RGN. RM. Dip HV.

Founder Millpond Sleep Clinic

For more on teens and young people’s sleep, see our blogs on:

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Rozanne Hay, UK Representative and Director for Continuing Education IACSC International Association Of Child Sleep consultants
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I am a GP and would recommend Millpond to any sleep deprived parents; you cannot put a price on sleep. Thank you so much. I only wish I hadn’t waited 19 months.
Vanessa, GP
We are so happy that we put our trust in you to help us with what has been a huge problem for our family for almost 2 years. We are finding time to relax and time for each other and I did not realise how much we missed this time.
Ben
As a family, we were sleep deprived. The tailored plan for our son made it personal. I am really pleased with what we’ve achieved during the programme and I am thankful to Juliet and Millpond.
Evrim.
We were at rock bottom. Our son has a neurological condition, so I was nervous and and wanted a sleep clinic who had experience of this and would adapt to the needs of our son. Our lives literally changed overnight!
Shurron
Within weeks our son was waking only once a night. The investment we made into Millpond was one of the best we’ve ever made. It gave my son a solid night sleep and consistency. It gave me and my husband our sanity back.
Shurron
I am delighted. I was aiming to go from 6+ wakes at night and feeding to sleep 100% of the time to 1-2 wake ups and some ability to self-settle. After doing the plan for less than 6 weeks my daughter started sleeping through the night.
Katie
My daughter is now having quite a bit more than the average sleep for her age and it’s lovely to see her waking up naturally. I’m also waking up naturally and feeling much more refreshed for having a regular sleep routine myself!
Louise
We are so happy we could jump for joy, we wish we had spoken to you ages ago. Using Millpond has built our confidence and made us feel on top of it at last. You really gave us some life back!
Sarah
I live in Switzerland so it is really quite remarkable that Millpond was able to help me over the phone and by email. When you have slept you can deal with anything!!
Melanie
We still can’t believe that such small changes have made such a difference to us and Alice. She has even slept through while on holiday in a travel cot.
Louise
We are just so sorry we did not get in touch sooner as we went through 18 months of no sleep.
Ann Marie
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We never thought life could be improved so greatly. You showed us the light. Luka is much happier and loving his sleep now.!
Diane
Alex is sleeping beautifully again and is now quite happy to lay in his cot singing until 7.30/745 am ( Godsend!) and sleeps very happily through the night again. Thank you so much!
Sandy
Very happy to say that Joshua, who you helped us with, is now sleeping a regular 11 hours a night uninterrupted. In fact, getting him up some mornings is a real challenge!
John
Mandy has been an absolute saviour at a time which was starting to feel quite bleak in terms of our little one’s sleep. The personalised advice and guidance has been invaluable.
Mary
“My husband and I reached out to the Millpond Sleep Clinic when our son was 10 months old. We had spent months in vain trying a variety of sleep training tips that we had picked up online, in a desperate attempt to get our son to sleep for more than 2 hour stretches! Nothing seemed to work. I remember crying whilst breastfeeding for the 5th time one evening, desperately begging my little one to sleep. We felt like we had been failing for a long time, as my circle of mum friends had all got their babies sleeping through so much earlier. I needed to get more sleep, with the return to work looming ever closer.

When we called Millpond, we were quickly introduced to Juliet who immediately took the pressure off us by providing a detailed “plan of action” based on what she had heard about our son’s sleep routine. After just a few nights, we already started to see big sleep improvements, and we worked confidently towards reducing our son’s night wakings and the duration of his night feeds. After a couple of weeks we had gone from 4-5 night wakings to just 1… and a few weeks later, our son started to sleep through! The biggest relief ever.

Throughout the whole process Juliet had been knowledgeable, kind, reassuring and made herself available to answer our questions over email between our sessions. Her experience as a mother herself, and highly trained sleep professional shone through. We can’t thank you enough for helping us through a rough time – and seeing us through to better days (and importantly, nights!!)
Cheryl