This is going to surprise a lot of people, but teens should really be getting eight to 10 hours of sleep every night,” says Elizabeth Rainville, PA-C, a physician assistant in Penn Medicine’s Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Department.
Why so much? Through age 20, Rainville says, men and women are finishing the advanced stages of puberty and men are still physically growing. These things require a lot of energy, and we restore our energy levels primarily through sleep. Not getting enough sleep may put you at a higher risk of diabetes and long-term heart problems.
“Sleep also aids our ability to concentrate,” Rainville says. “We like to say that one of the ‘major jobs of adolescence’ is being a student. If you’re not getting enough sleep, it’s going to make learning more difficult.”
Even more, getting enough sleep enables us to better regulate our moods and manage stress. If you’re consistently shorting your sleep, both can quickly feel overwhelming. Prolonged stretches of poor sleep are linked to mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. They can increase the risk of suicide in teens, too.