How much sleep does your teenager get? And is it enough?

[Pen]

I am thinking about teenagers and sleep.  My son returned to BMS, so that he can no longer sleep in and start school late as was possible for homeschooling.  He often gets 8 hours per night, which I think is more than a lot of teens get, but according to what I've heard, most teens need more than that.  What are your thoughts and experiences?

[MEmama]

Mine slept 10-11 before starting public high school. Now he gets 9, 10 if it's a low homework night (rare). It seems to be fine so far.

 

He prefers to go to sleep around 8, but sometimes it's closer to 9. He gets up at 6.

[Pink and Green Mom]

Mine gets about 8 hours on school nights (which doesn't seem like enough) and about 12 on weekends if he doesn't have sports (that is us waking him up at the crack of noon).  My son goes to school so he has to be up and out the door a little bit after 7 am (he is lucky his school starts at 7:45 am, the public high schools here start at 7 am; those kids leave the house at 6:20).

Edited September 30, 2017 by Pink and Green Mom

[Spryte]

DS (13.5) has sleep issues, so I'm interested in what others have to say.

 

Right now, he's up at 5:30 - 6 am every day, so I am pretty firm on hitting bed early. He functions best on 9 hours of sleep, so yes, that means he is heading to bed at 8 pm. It sounds crazy, doesn't it? But his nights are punctuated with wakings and trouble falling/staying asleep. We are awaiting sleep study results.

 

Our now adult son didn't get anywhere near that amount. He was in bed at 10, and up early for school, and honestly I think he was sleep deprived. :(

[Garga]

This summer, when my kids were done homeschool for the school year, I got them to bed at the exact same time every night for weeks on end. I told them not to set alarm clocks and to get up when they woke up.

 

My ds12 slept on average 10.5 hours a night. Sometimes he slept 9.5 and sometimes around 11.5 hours, but mostly, it was 10.5 hours.

 

My ds14 (now 15) slept on average 9.5 hours. Sometimes it was 8.5 and sometimes 10.5, but mostly it was 9.5 hours.

 

Now that school has started, they both go to bed at 9:30 and ds15's alarm is set for 7 (9.5 hours later), and ds12's alarm is set for 8 (10.5 hours later.)

 

Some days I think they might need that extra hour they sometimes got over the summer, but mostly I think they're getting enough. And I know that some nights they don't fall asleep right away, but we work together to get them to bed early enough to get the sleep they need.

 

I am a firm believer in everyone (kids, teens, adults) getting proper sleep.

[Lecka]

My 12-year-old gets 8-9 hours of sleep. I want him to have more, but if he gets up on his own with an alarm clock then I let it be. If he doesn't get up on his own with an alarm clock then I would want to move his bedtime.

 

He also has to have a good attitude about going to bed or I will want to move up his bedtime.

 

He really wants to keep his bedtime and he so he is getting up on his own and going to bed with a good attitude.

 

I do have to keep track of him at night to remind him to get ready for bed and go to bed, and if I get distracted with my other kids he won't get ready on his own.

 

I don't know, he is at a school with an earlier start time and I don't know what I think. It is hard because my younger kids have almost 2 hours more than him in the morning (with different school start times) but he is used to going to bed a little later than them. So I have moved them earlier and he goes to bed at the same time they do.

[Megbo]

On nights that Dss15 doesn't have sports, he gets 8 hours/night, which seems to be enough for him. He has to be up by 7:15, so he gets in bed by around 11:00.

 

On nights he has sports, he's always home by 10:30 and ready for bed by 11:00, but doesn't fall asleep until after midnight. It's noticeable the next morning that he is tired/groggy while getting ready, but he seems okay later in the day and never complains about being tired. 

 

On the weekends, he'll stay up until around midnight or 1:00am and sleep in until 9:00 or 9:30. If he were sleep deprived, I think he would sleep longer. I definitely did as a teen. 

[Guest]

I am not certain of the amount, but I am certain it's not enough.

[Carrie12345]

I have no idea when they go to sleep, or how long they've been awake (or haven't) before they emerge from their den.

Generally speaking, they seem to be getting plenty.

[LarlaB]

Almost 14 yo DD is in traditional school... she sleeps from 10:30-6:30 which is 8 hours, but she also regularly takes a nap 1-3x a week after school and majorly sleeps in on the weekend.

 

Last night she went to bed at 10:30 and I woke her up at 10:30 this morning (of course the dog puked in Her room at 5am so she had to get up)but she would have kept on sleeping.

 

On Thursday night she napped from 4:30-6 and still went to sleep easily that night- but was in a much much much better mood. More than a few times we have to wake her up for dinner.

 

IMHO she's not getting enough sleep every night so we are totally flex with weekend sleeping in to compensate for not enough sleep 4 nights of the week.

[JudoMom]

I am not certain of the amount, but I am certain it's not enough.

This.

[MinivanMom]

Most nights my teen sleeps from 9 pm - 7 am, so she gets about 10 hrs of sleep. If she gets any less than that, she really struggles the next day.

[Joker]

Youngest is 15 and seems to function best on around 6 hours. She's been that way a while and is usually even up on her own after 5-6 hours on school breaks and weekends. Sometimes she'll sleep for 8-9 hours but it's rare. Even when sick she doesn't sleep that much. I've always been the same way and 8 hours of sleep a night makes me feel more tired than usual.

 

Oldest is almost 18 and has always slept a lot. During the school week he only gets around 7 hours but on breaks and weekends he can easily sleep 12+ hours if allowed.

[elegantlion]

Ds needed 10-12 hours as a mid-teen. He's much better now but still needs more sleep. I do best at 9 hours as an adult, he's about that during the school week. On the weekends, he can sleep for 12 still. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I really don't know.  He does complain about having a hard time falling asleep (I did at that age too).  I don't make him get up early though because at this point he still doesn't have to. 

[lailasmum]

My 13 yr old sleeps 10-12 hours if left to wake naturally which she mostly is.

[Arcadia]

DS12 (12yr 10months) wakes up when he has enough sleep except for Thursday and Saturday when we have to leave the house early. He needs 8 to 12 hours of sleep with 12 being more the norm right now. He is a grouchy bear with not enough sleep.

[Sneezyone]

DS needs 10-11 hrs and he gets it b/c we don't usually start school until 9:30-10:30 each day. He usually falls asleep between 10 and 11. DD is usually in bed by 9p and she gets up at 5:30 on school days, so 8.5hrs. I'm sure she could use more but she functions well enough.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Sneezyone

[sassenach]

My kids are up at 6:30. They go to bed anywhere between 9 and 10:30. Most commonly 9:30. I think it's barely enough for my 15yo. He tends to be the one that drifts later. My 13yo seems well-rested. She is sometimes in bed before 9.

[Hilltopmom]

Mine slept 10-11 before starting public high school. Now he gets 9, 10 if it's a low homework night (rare). It seems to be fine so far.

 

He prefers to go to sleep around 8, but sometimes it's closer to 9. He gets up at 6.

Ditto,

Except on long dance nights, she can't get to bed until 9. (But can nap after school/ before dance those two days)

 

Bus comes at 6:40AM

 

Both teens prefer 10-12 hours though it rarely happens anymore, I do too.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[desiree77]

18 yo is getting about 8 hours on weeknights sleeping 12-8. Weekends she sleeps in but probably goes to bed later, so more like 10 hours? It seems to be enough. Though she takes naps sometimes, especially if she didn't get to catch up on the weekend.

 

16 yo sleeps about 9-10 hours. He doesn't have to be up early any day of the week. If he doesn't get that amount, he's grouchy.

 

14 yo has early morning practices a couple days a week that interfere with her sleep. She's getting probably 8-9 hours a night. She has a hard time sleeping in to recover sleep time. She also has a hard time falling asleep. She's taken a few naps this year to help. She used to have trouble napping, but is figuring it out.

 

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[AK_Mom4]

9-10 hours is about right.   When my olders were in public high school, they would get 6-7 at night and come home to take a two hour nap before sports practice or evening activities.  They would sleep in on Saturday playing catch up.

[wendy not in HI]

My two at home both attend high school. They also go to seminary at 6:10am before school. They both get up at about 5:30am. Ds14 goes to bed between 9 and 9:30 and gets about 8 hours of sleep. He seems to be doing okay with that amount of sleep but it was a rough transition when school and seminary started along with high school soccer practices after school and occasional evening games. He Also had a bad cold the first couple weeks of school and really crashed on the weekends.

 

Dd16 usually goes to bed around 10:30, but it's not unusual for her to stay up until 11 or later. She gets 7 hours of sleep most days. She had cheer practice all summer at 6am. I think it helped her to keep on an early wake up schedule. She seems to do okay with that much sleep, but she occasionally takes an afternoon nap or falls asleep at 6pm.

 

I feel like I'm not getting enough sleep...

[Peaceseeker]

10-11 hours seems to be the magic number around here for ages 12-13. My daughter used to get by on 8-9 hours but she has grown a ton in the last year and definitely needs more sleep than she did even a year ago. She functions best at right around 11 hours right now.

 

I can definitely tell when they don't get it as they are exhausted by the end of the day and dragging.

Edited October 2, 2017 by CaliforniaDreaming

[J-rap]

No teens anymore but...  At least 8.  Nine was better.

[Soror]

For my 13 yr. old I really don't know, I send him to bed around 9 but he usually takes awhile to fall asleep. I let him sleep until he wakes up, unless I absolutely have to wake him up. He usually wakes around 7 am. If he starts getting grumpy then I make him go to bed earlier until he isn't. As long as I make sure he has no electronics he has no issue getting enough sleep, how many hours that is (I'd estimate at 8-9) I'm not 100% sure, he was always the one to need less sleep than others. He's been in a growth spurt for the last several months and does seem to be sleeping more than he used to but not significantly more, he still doesn't sleep in late.

Edited October 2, 2017 by soror

[Alice]

My almost 14 year old sleeps about 10-11 hours. He goes to bed between 9-9:30 most nights and gets up between 7-8 am. We wake him up most days but often if it’s on the later end when we go in to the room he is awake reading. He has always needed more sleep than his siblings. I know he gets way more sleep than most of his friends, especially those who aren’t homeschooled. 

 

My almost 11 year old is going through a big growth spurt. He also gets about the same amount. They share a room so typically go to bed and get up at the same time. He used to get up earlier and be wide awake. In the last 6-9 months he has been sleeping more and eating more. And growing more. :)

 

I think they both get enough. 

 

As a pediatrician, the number one issue I talk to teens about is sleep. So many have the complaint of being tired or fatigued. And almost all of them are not getting enough sleep. I see a lot getting 5-6 hours. Those getting 7-8 hours are doing pretty well in comparison but I think they probably need more, especially if they are complaining of being tired. 

Edited October 2, 2017 by Alice