SubscribeWill our teens ever get enough sleep on school nights?
Our teenagers need more sleep on school nights. But how are they going to get it?
A recent study say teens who get fewer than eight hours of sleep on school nights are more likely to get involved in risky behavior. Well, that’s most high school students.
The authors of the study say it’s difficult to know if teens are drinking, using drugs or exhibiting other behaviors because they are not getting enough sleep or if the risky behavior keeps them from going to bed earlier. Either way, according to the study, a change in a teenager’s internal clock makes them want to stay up late and get up later.
Getting to bed at a decent hour has been a challenge in our household since my 16-year-old started high school. Here in Charlotte, high schools start classes at 7:15 a.m., which means that students have to get up mighty early to catch buses if their parents can’t drive them to school. And, in the evenings, there’s plenty of homework.
I’ve insisted that my daughter aim to be in bed by 10 p.m. on school nights. Sometimes she is, sometimes she isn’t, depending on the school workload on a given day. She gets up at 5:30 a.m. so she can get to the bus stop by 6:20 a.m.
It’s a difficult situation. Teenagers everywhere don’t get enough rest. And parents everywhere worry about them.
Is there a solution?
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I am a member of the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer raising a teenage daughter and dealing with the needs of an aging mother. I am a veteran journalist, having worked for more than three decades as a reporter and editor. Mostly recently, I was an editor with the Metro section of The Washington Post.
