How Much Sleep for Teen?
I am the parent of a 15 year-old boy. Typical teen, he can sleep until 11:30 a.m., noon or beyond. This has become a real bone of contention between my husband and I, where my husband believes he should keep normal sleeping and waking hours -- waking him at 8:30 a.m. or so, and I believe he's sleeping because he needs it. After some web research, there seems to be no real answer that I can find. Is there an answer?
Aug 7, 2016
Parent Replies
There are several good resources on teens and sleep. Most recommend that teens get about 9 hours a night, but few teens I know actually do. What most teens don't understand is that this actually slows them down -- better sleep means better concentration, focus, memory, and energy. Here are some links from:
the National Sleep Foundation: https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep
the UCAL Sleep Center: http://sleepcenter.ucla.edu/sleep-and-teens
and a good one from Stanford, arguing that sleep deprivation among teens is an "epidemic": https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-depriv…
Of course, knowing all this and convincing your teen are two different things.
There is some research which points to teens needing 10 hrs. of sleep nightly based on how much growing they're doing.
After raising 4 kids who all slept long hours as teens, I can honestly say that allowing them to sleep as long as they wanted made for a healthier and happier life for all of us. Of course they had to get their butts out of bed for school, etc. Teens, especially boys, need a lot of sleep.
I have two daughters who do the same, you are not alone. If you want him to get up earlier get him involved in something which requires him to get up early like sports. My daughter use to sleep until noon, then she started playing basketball and tennis and now get up at 5:30am and can't stay awake much past 9:30.
To answer your question of how much sleep teenagers need? Everyone is different and needs change over time. The rule in our house is let them sleep. There's a reason they need that much sleep for proper development.
You haven't done enough research. Teens need their sleep- I let my 13 year old sleep as long as he wants too. Studies have shown that the early morning schedule of high school in particular does a teen no favors. It's summer who cares if he sleeps until noon? He has some job to get to? At this age still, kids are doing their growing when they sleep so really just let him be. What a silly thing for your husband to argue about- he sounds way too controlling and this will only lead to more issues with your teenage boy as he grows older. Sleep is one of the few things your son should have control of. So unless his dad has some fantastic reason for waking his son up at 8:30 during summer vacation then dad should leave son alone.
I have read numerous articles about this and they all state that teens need 10-12 hours of sleep a night. Let him sleep!
I assume that he is sleeping this late only one weekends and in the summer, not on school days? You didn't say what time he goes to bed and how many hours of sleep he is actually getting. Normal teens need about 8-10 hrs of sleep per night and this is quite variable. My almost 15 year old gets about 9 hrs per night and will sleep in on weekends if he has been really active with sports or had some nights when he had trouble falling asleep. I think it is well documented that teens circadian rhythms make them want to naturally stay up late and sleep in late and some researches have recommended that schools change to later start times to accommodate this natural rhythm. And as a night owl myself, married to an early bird, having different people in the household with different sleep schedules can be very difficult. I love staying up late because the house is quiet, I can focus on projects, but know that I need to discipline myself to stay on a normal bedtime or I would be going to bed naturally at 2-3AM and waking up at 9-11AM. My teen wants to stay up late on weekends, but sometime I am tired or am trying to keep myself on a good sleep schedule and I don't want him wandering around the house or on computers and devices after all the adults have gone to bed. He too needs to keep on a good sleep schedule. Getting enough sleep is really important, and especially for a growing teen. I would say tell your husband that your son might need to catch up on sleep on the weekends, and help your son to establish a good sleep pattern during the week so it doesn't get totally out of hand.