It’s 2 AM, you are on your phone scrolling through TikTok, and you keep telling yourself this is the last one. Then, all of a sudden, your alarm goes off, and you push yourself to wake up and go to school. Sound familiar?

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Your parents may blame this on bad time management or a phone addiction, but it is much deeper than that.

As stated in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Page, “Though teenagers and their sleep habits may be maddening to parents, they’re partly in response to physical changes that occur during puberty.” At this stage of life, teenagers are going through an important stage of growth and development. A healthy amount of sleep would be around 8-10 hours a night.

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This period of life is very important for growth, physically and mentally. The National Sleep Foundation wrote, “Most teens experience rapid physical growth, their brains go through crucial transformation, they start firming up their social roles and identity, and they build skills for emotional regulation.”

How Sleep Works and Its Stages

Written by The National Library of Medicine , this article states, "...the gold standard for quantifying sleep is polysomnography (PSG), which requires continuous measurement of electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram (EOG), and electromyogram (EMG). The combination of these physiological signals is used to divide sleep into two states: non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep (which is further subdivided into 3 or 4 stages) and REM sleep."

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Non-REM sleep is when our brain is quieter and slows down. REM sleep is when the brain is more active, and we are more likely to dream. While we sleep each night, we flow between non-REM and REM. This flow is organized into 5 stages.

Take a look at this explanation of the "Sleep Stages" given by Clinicians -Research based.

• " Stage 1: Falling asleep - This is our lightest sleep as we drop off and one that is easiest to wake from. Our brainwaves slow down and physically our heartbeat slows and muscles start to relax. This is the phase where you sometime get those muscle jerks or feeling like you are falling.
• Stage 2: Lighter sleep - Compared to stage 1 it is harder to wake someone from this stage. Breathing and heartbeat slow further and our temperature starts to drop. Eye movement under the lid has stopped in this phase too.
• Stages 3 & 4: Deep Sleep - In this stage our brainwaves, breathing and heartbeat slow right down. The body is fully relaxed and we are much harder to wake.
• Stage 5: REM Sleep - This is where our brain activity is similar to when we are awake, but the body is still relaxed. There is rapid movement under the eyelids, heart rate increases, breathing is more erratic and body temperature increases. "

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Sleep in Teens

Teenagers actually need more sleep than adults and young children.

A chart made by Cleveland Clinic researchers states that teenagers ages 13 to 18 need 8-10 hours of sleep, while adults who are 18 years and older only need 7-9 hours each night.

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The Role of Melatonin

In adults and younger children, melatonin levels rise during the late afternoon, making them fall asleep more naturally and making them sleepier. On the other hand, in adolescence, the brain produces melatonin later, around 9-11 p.m.

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“It turns out that adolescents have a delayed release of regular daily melatonin, which causes them to become sleepy later at night, hours after nightfall. Given the fact that teenagers have an established need for 8-10 hours of sleep per night, the delayed melatonin release that allows teenagers to fall asleep late in the day has the expected effect of predisposing them to remain asleep for longer into the late morning or early afternoon, when it is feasible.” - Neurology Live

Circadian Rhythms and Delayed Phase

The circadian rhythm is your body's internal 24-hour clock. It regulates many bodily functions like body temperature, hormone release, wakefulness, and your sleep cycle.

During adolescence, a "sleep phase delay" occurs, which is a shift in circadian rhythms. This makes your internal clock shift, which causes you to sleep and wake up later.

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The John Hopkins article: Why Sleep is Important for Teens states that delayed sleep phase occurs around the age of 13. This phase causes teens to have difficulty sleeping early.

The Importance of Sleep in Teens

An article published by Cleveland Clinic states multiple ways sleep is essential for teenagers to remain healthy: "Supports mental health...reduces the risk of injuries and accidents...promotes better emotional regulation...improves brain function...protects physical health".

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The same John Hopkins: Why Sleep is Important for Teens article wrote that, "Sleeping can help us prevent infections, rebuild our muscles and can even help our brains work better so that we can focus, prevent mood problems and helps our bodies function better."

As teens, it is important to consider these biological changes when establishing healthy sleep habits . Sleep is not just a luxury for teenagers but a necessity for their emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Biological changes like the sleep phase delay and circadian rhythm shifts make it much harder for teens to fall asleep early naturally.

Regardless, teenagers remain needing the most sleep out of any other age group, needing 8-10 hours of sleep each night. Lack of sleep can cause many issues, some even long-term. Understanding these biological changes in adolescence can help parents and educators better understand their children instead of blaming their teens for staying up too late. Prioritizing sleep is crucial for helping teenagers thrive in all aspects of life.