Teens Want to Hit the Snooze Button

Many parents of teen-agers are accustomed to a morning maelstrom of activity, in the midst of which they execute detailed strategies to get everyone out the door and to school on time. Perhaps it is not surprising that a majority (71%) of American teen-agers polled in March through May 2001* said they think it would be a good idea if schools started an hour or two later so that students would be able to get more sleep. Only 28% think such a proposal would be a bad idea.

Are those teens just being lazy, or do they really need the extra shut-eye? When asked if they wish they could get more sleep during the week, 79% of teens said yes. That response was especially common among girls (84%, compared to 74% of boys).

So teens' desire for more sleep is clear -- but how much do they actually require, and how much do they actually get? In an article for Intelihealth, Dr. Mallika Joy Johnson of the Harvard Medical School, said that sleep requirements change with age. Young teen-agers, aged 10 to 14 years, require between nine and 10 hours of sleep, whereas older teen-agers, 16 to 18 years, generally need eight to eight and a half hours. In a 2000 report, the National Sleep Foundation reported that only 15% of adolescents (ages 13 to 19) get eight and a half hours or more of sleep per night, and 26% get six and a half hours of sleep or less per night.

When questioned about their own specific sleep habits and how much sleep they think other teens require, teens' perceptions are relatively close to Johnson's medical observations. Roughly half (49%) say they think the average teen-ager should get eight hours of sleep, and 41% say they think teens require nine hours of sleep. Just 10% say they think teens should get seven hours of sleep or less. When asked about how much sleep they personally should get, 44% of teens say nine hours. An additional 44% say eight hours, and just 11% say hours.

Teens' responses change when they are asked how much sleep they "have to have in order to function well during the day." In response to this question, 39% of teens say they need seven hours or less, a third (33%) say eight hours, and only 27% say they need nine or more hours in order to function.

If teen-agers are aware how much sleep they require and consistently say they want more, then the question becomes: "Why don't teens get enough sleep?" The most common answer: school. Among those teens saying they want more sleep during the week, 28% say they don't get more sleep because they stay up doing homework. Another 16% say they don't get more sleep because they have to get up early for school.

So will high schools ever heed the call for a later opening? Probably not, according to Dr. Saul Cooperman, former New Jersey Commissioner of Education. "When women stayed home, there was more of an argument to send the kids later," Cooperman said. "Now, with most women working, parents don't want kids home when they are at work. Also, some teachers have a second job after school. Then there's tradition -- "'that's the way it's always been' is a powerful reason."

Results are based on telephone interviews with 501 teen-agers, aged 13 to 17, conducted March through May 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is +/- 5 percentage points.