It seems almost an accepted fact that high school and college students don’t get enough sleep.  But there are very real and unfortunate implications of sleep deficit during these years that suggest complacency by teens or their parents is misplaced.

Some of the important facts on sleep:

The American Medical Association defines adequate sleep for teens and young adults as 8 or more hours a night.

As teens get older their sleep deprivation increases.

Fully 75% of 12th graders report getting less than 8 hours a sleep a night while in 6th grade only 16% of students could be defined as sleep deprived.  A mere 3% of 12th graders slept 9 or more hours a night.

Teens and young adults try to remedy their lack of sleep with “sleep binging” on the weekend in order to address lingering fatigue.

Why Don’t Teens and Young Adults Sleep Enough?

One of the primary reasons teens do not get enough sleep is that their internal clocks, or circadian rhythms, are reset in adolescence making them more wakeful in the evening hours.

Electronic play a big role. The National Sleep Foundation reports that most teens or young adults have a least one electronic device (a phone, television, video game player, computer...) in their bedroom. These devices in the evening provide a distraction from sleep with texting, game playing and talking with friends and have been been shown to disrupt normal sleep patterns and delay sleepiness. The light emitted from electronic devices is thought to disrupt normal sleep patterns.

School starting times are early in high school, though not usually for college, and create an unrealistic bedtime for students, if they are to get 8 hours of sleep. School districts that have experimented with later starting times have found better attendance and more well rested students. Studies done comparing communities with later starting times to the school day found that those districts where the school day begins later had a lower automobile crash rate among teens.

Teens and young adults fight their fatigue with caffeine that, while giving them a temporary boost, later disrupts their sleep and as a consequence causes them to drink more caffeine.  While mild caffeine drinkers do not experience this problem, research shows that, “High school students who report a moderate to high intake of caffeine versus very low intake were nearly 2 times more likely to have difficulty sleeping and to report morning sleepiness.”  The increased use of “energy” drinks and dessert like coffee drinks has compounded this problem.

What are the Consequences of Teens and Young Adults Sleeping Enough?

The health related consequences of insufficient sleep have been well studied in teens and young adults. Researchers and physicians have found that the risks of not enough sleep include, depression, increased obesity, driving accidents, delinquent behaviors and psychological stress.  

Another study found that college students who went to bed earlier earned better grades than their classmates who were night owls. 

Teens and young adults experience  a great deal of brain development and with it an increase good judgement.  However lack of sleep can result in poor judgment, inattention, and lack of motivation.                             

Some of the problems created by sleeplessness become a vicious circle as in the case of caffeine mentioned above or alcohol where the consumption can lead to poor sleep and sleep deprivation has been associated with increased alcohol use.