Teen’s Body Clocks Are Two Hours Behind Adults According to Sleep Expert
Bensons for Beds’ sleep expert, Dr Sophie Bostock reveals why teens turn into night owls
- Sleep expert dispels myth that technology is the cause of teen sleep deprivation
- Delayed melatonin release means teens’ body clocks are delayed by two hours on average, causing them to get sleepier later
- From the age of 9, kids can start experiencing a delay in their sleepiness in the evening, peaking at the age of 17
- Studies have shown that teens with a ‘set’ bedtime get an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night, which adds up over a week
- Dr Sophie Bostock provides three simple tips for parents to help improve their teens’ sleep quality
Teens often get a bad rap for being too keen to stay up late, having long lie-ins until past midday and often being branded as ‘night owls’ or, even worse, ‘lazy’. Now, Bensons for Beds’ sleep expert, Dr Sophie Bostock, has revealed the biological reason that some children may not be able to help this transition into a night owl state during their teen years, and what parents can do to best support their teenagers’ sleep patterns at this time.
“During adolescence, studies have shown that the timing of teens’ body clocks can become delayed by an average of two hours, making teens sleepy later in the day, and making it harder to wake up in the morning,” explains Sophie.
Studies have shown that as children get older, the timing of melatonin release (a signal to the body and brain to prepare for sleep) gets gradually later. For children under 10, melatonin is released before 8pm, whereas for teenagers, melatonin onset can be more than 2 hours later, at around 10:30-11pm, meaning their bedtime often shifts back dramatically and can be a big shock for parents.”
This change in sleep patterns in teens can have a huge impact on every aspect of their lives, and can manifest itself in several different ways which parents may recognise, including:
- Difficulty waking up, and grogginess on waking
- Not feeling sleepy, or difficulty falling asleep, before 10-11pm, or in many cases, later in the evening or early hours
- No appetite for breakfast in the morning before school
- Lying in at the weekends by several hours
- Excessive sleepiness in the late afternoon
All of these can lead to difficulty concentrating at school, more impulsive behaviour, difficulties with emotional regulation, irritability and low mood, lack of energy, low motivation and even frequent health infections.
So, when can you expect your teen to potentially become a night owl? Sophie advises: “From around age 9, there is a faster transition towards a night owl preference, partly due to the onset of more hormones. This peaks between ages 15 to 17, which is typically when we can expect to see the greatest difficulty falling asleep early, and waking up early. For boys, this stays relatively stable for a decade, but girls appear to rebound more quickly towards a slightly earlier morning preference in their twenties.”
How much sleep do teens need?
This huge biological shift might also affect teen boys and girls in different ways. A preference for a night owl chronotype peaks at an average of 15.7 years in girls and much later at 17.2 boys. This is also often the start of poor sleep in general for women, as menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause can plague the fairer sex for years to come.
Given that most teens need, on average, 8 to 10 hours each night, how can parents help support their children to sleep, throughout these turbulent times? (And it might not involve taking away screens, which have often been to blame for poor teen sleep!)
“The evidence suggests that blue light from devices only has a minor role in keeping teens awake at night,” says Dr Sophie. “When it comes to sleep, technology is not all bad – it’s about what we use it for, for how long, and at what time. For people who get easily distracted by their phones or video games, strict controls limiting access to screens in bed could be beneficial.
“However, some teens may use technology to help distract them from negative thoughts, to listen to relaxing music, or to meditate. If we remove tech from the bedroom without implementing any other strategies to help them deal with negative thoughts, they may simply ruminate, and focus on feelings of missing out, and detachment.”
Dr Sophie’s top 3 tips for supporting sleep patterns in teens
- Set a bedtime
Having a regular ‘set’ bedtime can help teens get more sleep – studies have shown that on average, teens with a ‘set’ bedtime get an extra 20 minutes per night, which adds up over a week. However, teenagers need to feel bought in to any strategies to help them sleep, so work with them to agree on a bedtime that is realistic and beneficial for you all.
- Discuss expectations about tech use, but try to ensure there is buy-in
Parental restrictions on technology use before bed have had mixed effects on sleep. Research suggests that having a cut-off time for tech use does lead to earlier bedtimes, but this only led to longer sleep duration when teens complied with wider advice about wind-down routine, so make sure they’re well equipped with the tools to also feel relaxed.
- Bright light in the morning and during the day
To help night owls adjust their body clocks to early mornings, they need exposure to bright light in the mornings, and especially within the first hour after waking. The ideal is to get outside into daylight for at least 15 minutes. Even if you can’t get exposure to bright light first thing, aim to get outside as much as possible during daylight hours, since this reduces sensitivity to light at night. When it’s dark outside during winter mornings, a dawn simulation alarm clock (which gets gradually brighter before alarm time) can help night owls of all ages to wake up in the morning.
At least an hour before the chosen bedtime, start to dim overhead lights and switch off screens. You can also try using blackout blinds to make the bedroom as dark as possible, or an eye mask, to help regulate sleep patterns in teens.
For more information, visit the Bensons for Beds website.
