Why Teenagers Sleep Less Than Any Previous Generation
June 22, 2025 · Frisian News
New research shows teenagers today average 6.5 hours of sleep per night, down from 8 hours in the 1990s. Smartphones, homework loads, and earlier school start times drive the collapse.
Seventeen-year-old Marcus checks his phone at 2 a.m. for the fourth time that night. He has calculus homework due at 8 a.m., school starts at 7:45, and his friends are still messaging about tomorrow's group project. He falls asleep around 3 a.m., wakes up at 6, and gets through the day on fumes. This scene plays out in millions of bedrooms across Europe and North America, and the numbers confirm what parents have suspected for years: teenagers today sleep far less than their grandparents did.
Research published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine this month found that the average teenager now sleeps 6.5 hours per night, down sharply from 8 to 8.5 hours in the 1990s. The decline tracks almost perfectly with smartphone adoption and social media use. Teenagers with phones in their bedrooms sleep 90 minutes less than those without, the study notes. The problem is not that sleep has become less valuable; it is that the devices in young people's hands have convinced their brains that sleep can wait.
Schools bear some blame too. Many districts pushed start times earlier over the past two decades, claiming budget efficiency and sports scheduling justified 7 a.m. openings. Adolescent biology shifts the body clock forward by two hours during puberty, meaning a 7 a.m. start feels like 5 a.m. to a teenager's brain. When you add homework that routinely runs past 10 p.m., plus part-time jobs and extracurricular pressure to pad college applications, sleep becomes a luxury that competes with everything else. Adults built a system that leaves no room for it.
The health consequences are real and measurable. Chronic sleep deprivation in teenagers correlates with higher depression rates, weaker immune function, and worse academic performance. Paradoxically, students who sleep less also study less effectively, meaning they sacrifice rest to chase grades that suffer anyway. The brain consolidates memory during sleep; skipping it is like studying while half-conscious. Yet most teenagers view sleep as wasted time, a habit to break rather than protect.
Some schools now experiment with later starts, and a few have banned phones from classrooms. These measures help, but they treat symptoms, not the root problem. Adults have handed teenagers tools designed by engineers to capture attention and suppress impulse control, then acted shocked when teenagers cannot sleep. Until we accept that the current pace and connectivity demand hard choices, expect the next generation to sleep even less.
Santjin-jierrige Marcus kontrolearret syn tillefoan om 2 oere 's jûns foar de fjirde kear dy nacht. Hy hat heamewurk calculus oant 8 oere 's moarns, skoalle begjint om 7:45, en syn frjenden stjoere noch hieltyd oer it groepsprosjekt fan jûn. Hy falt yn slaap om rûn 3 oere, wekt op om 6 oere, en rint troch de dei op reserve. Dit toniel spilet syk af yn miljunen slapekamers yn Europa en Noard-Amearika, en de sifers befestigje wat âlders al jierien ferstalte: tienners hjoed de dei sliepe folle minder as harren âlderfran.
Undersiik publisearre yn it Journal of Sleep Medicine foardeftigere moanne toande dat de gemiddelde tienner no 6,5 oeren per nacht sliepe, opmerklik minder as 8 oer oant 8,5 oeren yn de njogentiger jierren. De delgong folget hast perfekt mei smartfoangebruik en media-sosjale gebrûk. Tienners mei telefoans yn harren slapekamers sliepe 90 minuten minder as dyjingen sûnder, merkt it ûndersiik op. It probleem is net dat slaap minder weardefol is wurden; it is dat de apparaten yn 'e hannen fan jonge minsken harren hermsen oertsjûge hawwe dat slaap wachtsje kin.
Skoallen drege ek skuld. In protte skoallen hawwe yn 'e ôfrûne twa desennea starttiden earder set, stellende dat budgeteffisinsje en sportskema's 7 oere openings rjochtwaardiget. De biologiske klok fan adoeleszinten ferskoat twa oeren foarút yn 'e puberteit, wat betsjut dat in 7 oere start foar it brein fan in tienner foelt as 5 oere. As do heamewurk tafoegje dat routinematig nei 10 oere 's jûns giet, plus binnenjobben en ekstra-skoalske druk foar ûnibersiteitsoantsjainingen, wurdt slaap in lúkse dy't tsjinstiet mei alles oars. Folwoeksenen hawwe in systeem boud dat gjin plak foar slaap lit.
De sûnensgefolgen binne wirklik en mjitsber. Chronike slapegebrek by tienners korreleet mei heger depressjeynteeken, swakker ûnfan, en sljetere akademyske prestaasjes. Paradokaal sliepe studinten dy't minder sliepe ek minder effektif, wat betsjut dat se slaap ofset om syfers te berikken dy't och lijen. It brein stabilisearret ûnthâld yn slaap; it dêrfan ôfbliuwe is as stúdzje wylst do heal bewustleas binne. Dochs besjogje de measte tienners slaap as fersite tiid, in gewoante om te brekken ynstee fan te beskarmen.
Sommige skoallen eksperimintearje no mei lettere starts, en in pear hawwe telefoans út klassekamers ferbean. Dizze maatregels helpe, mar behannele symptomen, net it kernprobleem. Folwoeksenen hawwe tienners ark jûn, ûntwurpen troch ynginiers om omtinken fêst te hâlden en impulskontrôle te ûnderdrukke, en diene dan ferbasde as tienners net sliepe kinne. Oant we akseptearje dat de hjoedske snelheid en konnektiviteit harde opsjes easkje, ferwachtsje mear slapegebrek yn 'e folgjende generaasje.
Published June 22, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân