Teens and Sleep Patterns

Nick: I am Nick from Pittsburgh. I would like to know how many hours per night a teen need to sleep.

Dr. Mangala Narasimhan: So Nick, this is a question that's very much a hot topic right now. A teenager typically needs about nine-and-a-quarter hours of sleep. The average American teenagers are sleeping somewhere between six and a half and seven and a half hours of sleep. Now, this is a combination of problems, high schools are starting earlier and earlier and children have to wake up earlier and earlier.

Teenagers typically fall asleep very late at night, their circadian rhythms are delayed and they go to bed much later than an adult or a baby does. So, a combination of having to wake up early and not being able to go to bed until very late at night is causing teenagers in America to be very sleep deprived. But your teenager should be aiming for about nine hours of sleep in night.


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