The National Sleep Foundation suggests that teenagers need to get 8-10 hours of sleep per night, but a very small percentage of teens get enough sleep to fall into that range. The NASH Uproar conducted polls on Instagram and Twitter asking students how many hours of sleep they got each night. The Instagram poll showed that only 1 in 5 students got more than seven hours of sleep every night, but the Twitter poll showed that 3 in 5 students get 6-8+ hours of sleep. The discrepancy here is most likely from the number of options available in the polls (two on Instagram and four on Twitter). Even with the possible error in the polls, they seem correlate to the data collected by the National Sleep Foundation, reporting that more than 70% of teenagers average less than 8 hours every night.

There are many reasons that contribute to a lack of sleep in teenagers including homework, sports, non-school sponsored activities, and even just squeezing in time to hang out with friends. The one most common reason that makes teens stay up late is because their bodies want to stay up late. Accompanying puberty, teenagers experience a “biological shift in circadian rhythms of about 2 hours”. This means that teens bodies think it is 9 p.m. when it is actually closer to 11 p.m.. Teenagers go to bed late because they do not feel tired until very late at night. The early start time of school, homework, sports, friends, and the body’s natural inclination to go to bed later creates an ongoing cycle of losing sleep, leading to chronic sleep deprivation.

There are controllable factors that contribute to the lack of sleep teenagers get. The light produced by electronic devices simulates sunlight and makes the body think that it is still daytime. Blue light emitted by electronic devices suppresses production of melatonin, a chemical the brain makes to induce sleepiness. By reducing time on phones and other devices or switching over to “Night Shift” on iPhones and “Twilight” on Android to minimize blue light, the body is able to remain on a regular daylight schedule and be tired at the correct times. While it is common sense to avoid caffeine before going to bed, caffeine consumption up to six hours before bed reduces total sleep time by one hour. Developing a more consistent sleep and wake schedule throughout the entire week helps to get a better night’s’ sleep. By going to sleep at the same time each night, the body knows to be tired and will make falling asleep easier.

Because of this lack of sleep during the school week, most students try to make up for their lost sleep on the weekend, sleeping for an extra 4 hours. Getting very little sleep for a week straight then sleeping in late gives the body the same as “flying to Europe and back every week”. The symptoms of jet lag, also known as desynchronosis, are extreme excessive daytime sleepiness or insomnia, making the sleep cycle even more irregular. Jet lag also causes physical symptoms of headaches, lack of concentration, and irritability which makes going to school just that much harder. Even with all of these setbacks, students still have to wake up at 6 a.m. Monday morning and the cycle repeats.

This lack of sleep leads to chronic sleep deprivation which can cause “a number of health and academic problems as well as lasting consequences on the developing brain.” Teens who get less sleep have an increased likelihood of “depression, suicidal thoughts, obesity, risky behavior, substance abuse, poor concentration, lower academic performance, and car accidents.” In fact, sleep-related crashes are most common in people aged 25 and younger which makes getting an adequate amount of sleep more important. Losing sleep and drinking tons of caffeine to stay awake may seem alright, but it can cause serious consequences now and later on in life.

So stop worrying about those upcoming tests and get some sleep!

Dr. Colleen McClung, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, agreed to provide research and data from sleep studies.