Factors Contributing to Sleep Deprivation in Teens

By Varsha Seshadri

What is sleep deprivation? 

Sleep deprivation is when one fails to get the sleep they need regularly. For teens, around 87% don’t get the sleep they need. While the recommendation of hours of sleep a teen gets per night is around 8-10, most teens get around 6.5-7.5 hours of sleep. (Garey, n.d.) This is an issue as sleep deprivation can have multiple negative side effects, including an increased risk of: 

● Alzheimer’s disease 

● Dementia 

● Anxiety 

● Depression 

● Elevated blood pressure 

● Obesity 

● Diabetes 

● High Cholesterol 

Factors Contributing to Sleep Deprivation 

Hormonal Changes 

During puberty, one of the many changes teenagers goes through affects their circadian rhythms. Specifically, melatonin, which controls sleep, shifts its production during the teenage years. As a result, teenagers are much more likely to be wide awake at late hours of the night, making the natural time to sleep around 11pm for teenagers. However, they’re expected to be awake at around 5 in the morning for school, negatively impacting the time they can sleep. It’s often compared to being in a different time zone.Then, during the weekends, to catch up on lost sleep, teenagers often sleep for around 12 hours, further disrupting the sleep schedule. (Sleep deprivation. n.d.). 

Technology 

When teenagers use their screens, the screens emit blue light. When the blue light waves reach the eye, the eye sends a signal to the brain to reduce melatonin production. This, in turn, causes people to not feel tired. This exemplifies the delayed production of melatonin already present in teens, causing them to be unable to sleep properly. It has a cyclic effect when teenagers can’t sleep- they will be more likely to be on their screens, which cause them to have an even harder time sleeping.

In addition to this, social media apps can be a huge drainer for teenagers as they get caught up in the moment and lose track of time. Social media apps such as Snapchat, Tiktok, or Instagram are distractions that keep teenagers awake at night. 

Academic Pressure 

In order to get into a good college, students are pressured to be “well-rounded”, meaning they should have extracurriculars, a job, and balance everything properly. This means that teenagers are often spending most of the day at school and are forced to do homework at night. In addition, since they are also being pressured to have a heavy academic courseload, teenagers are often forced to spend hours doing that homework, which has a negative impact on overall well-being. 

References 

Garey, J. (n.d.). Why Are Teenagers So Sleep-Deprived? Child Mind Institute. Retrieved November 23, 

2024, from https://childmind.org/article/teenagers-sleep-deprived/ 

Sleep deprivation. (n.d.). Better Help Channel. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/sleep-depriva tion#effects-of-sleep-deprivation