Why Do Teens Sleep and Wake Up Late?
If you find that you have to shout your teenager out of sleep in the morning, don’t be so rude! There is a biological reason why your teen might want that extra hour in bed.
If your teenage son or daughter is late for the school bus again, don’t yell at them from the kitchen or complain all day long. Us teenagers’ bodies are built completely differently to that of adults so we have a biological reason as to why we sleep late and wake up late.
There is a certain ‘darkness hormone’ called melatonin that induces sleep in all human beings. As a person beings to grow older, this melatonin’s levels are reduced which is why you might find that old age people may wake up a lot earlier than you’d imagine. This melatonin is like a sleep inducing hormone that releases itself normally at night times. This helps us go to sleep. For any adult, this hormone releases itself at about 10 pm. Unfortunately, for your poor teen, it isn’t so.
Teenagers only release this hormone at about 1 pm at night. This means that even if they try to go to bed, they don’t feel like sleeping until quite late. This then has a knock on effect when they have to wake up in the morning. Think of it as an internal clock. Teenagers’ clocks are set to release melatonin much late but what happens is in the morning, when it’s time to get ready for school, the teenagers’ internal clocks still feel it is night time which is why they struggle to wake up.
A lot of people blame things like the availability of technology in the teenagers’ rooms as a sign of sleeping late and waking up late. Things like TV, gaming consoles, iPods, mobile phones, computers etc are causing your teenager to sleep late but these are just ways that your teen uses to stay awake because he or she can’t go to sleep. It is said that things like these cause the melatonin release to postpone itself but either way, a teen has just a different cardiac rhythm to that of a normal adult. Their sleep cycles are different and their need for sleep is more – up to 9 and a half hours.
So don’t bother blaming your teenager if you find they are sleeping in, they need it because they can’t help it! Preventing it will just lead to a moody teenager. Some schools in America have set the starting time of their classes later so the teens can have a lie in and this has been proved to help them study better and perform better.
Sleep is good, you know, so make sure you don’t lose any sleep over your teenager losing a lot of sleep.
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athena goodlight | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Good info! Now I know why I loved waking up late when I was in my teens.
chitragopi | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
I wondered about my son and daughter getting up late, thought it was hormone problem. Now I know the reason.
littlekid137 | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
In the past few years I have swam every morning at 5 am. The latest I have waked up in that time is about 8 on Sunday’s. This was an interesting article and it totally makes sense. Nice work as usual
Darla Smith | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
My 14 year old daughter will sleep until noon if I let her.
agriculi | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
There is a lot going on in the teenage brain, sleep helps with that. I suggests that school should begin no earlier than 10 am, better still 11am and finish at 2 pm with a break at 12 pm for 1 hour. I am actually looking for a job with those hours.
sunshine926 | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Good information. Yes, it’s true that sometimes people can’t sleep at night and that totally disrupts the sleeping cycle and then you end up waking up later than expected. It is always good to set up a time to go to sleep and wake up. For those of us who go to school and work this is not hard to do.
B Nelson | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
I have a 15 year old daughter and what you write is true
I also saw a TV show on it, they showed that kids who were allowed to sleep in and went to a school that started later in the day, actually did better.
PR Mace | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for this interesting article. I learned something new today. I wish I had, had this article when my daughter was a teen. She was the hard one to wake up, our son on the other hands was usually up before we were.
mzmax100 | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
haha, I would have never guessed. Great article Atikin, might show this to mum and dad soon after =)
Thanks for sharing.
Max
Lostash | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
I used to love my lay-ins as a teen…..and I still do now!!
emmahaynes | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Great info! Thanks for the share =]
Diverseblogger | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Another great article Atikin! Growing up, I use to sleep for hours and hours (my mom use to say I was pregnant because I slept so much lol) Great write!
Ruby Hawk | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
I’m a night owl, I am up late and sleep late. I know how hard it is to get kids up in the morning. It’s like pulling teeth. I feel most teenagers do not get enough sleep. they stay up late and just don’t have enough hours in bed..
Christine Ramsay | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
I have heard of this before. I often used to wonder why the sleeping patterns of my two sons were so different. Now I know. Thank you for the information.
Christine
gangu786 | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
i dint know its hormonal thanks for share
Collette Edwards | Sep 9, 2009 | Reply
hummm I can\’t sleep till wee hours of the morning, then I\’m still awake usually by 8:30 – 9:00. sometimes it seems a couple hour or so are all I need, But then I like an afternoon nap now a days as well, Maybe I still have some teen hormons lol
willtwinny | Sep 10, 2009 | Reply
Thank-you ever so much for writing this article. I wish my articles got the same responses as yours, but as usual you have written an amazing article!
I knew I couldn’t sleep, but my parents didn’t believe me. I am going to show my parents this article now!
melissa | Sep 12, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the post because my mom gets up at like 8 and 9 a.m. and continues to yell at me until I get up in the a.m. I can’t stand that. I like to stay in bed and sleep til noon or 3 p.m. The body just feels tired. Cant force myself outta bed. LOL
Jacqueline | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
Omg I have a 16 yr old son that I have the hardest time getting up every morning and its driving me crazy. He misses his school bus alot, almost everyday..then I have to drive him to school. He has to be up between 5:30-6:00 am. I noticed he will stay up sort of late.. knowing he has a hard time getting up in the morning. It’s to the point that he tells me he hates school and he wish school would start later in the day and not so early. During the evening into the night he will text with friends while watching tv. When I finally get him to bed he will lay there and act like he is going to bed but I’am not sure if he is. I think he is having a hard time going to bed. One would think he would be exhausted and want to go to bed early. I also have a 15 yr old son that is the opposite, he goes to bed early and I dont have problems with him getting up, but lately even though he goes to bed early he still wakes up tired and is struggling to get up. Anyway I’m glad I now have at least some understanding for my 16yr old.
JohnDaOne | Sep 25, 2009 | Reply
As would I lol
JohnDaOne | Sep 25, 2009 | Reply
Sleep in till noon (sos pc failed, or user, not sure which)
Just to add to the bit about blaming tech. My pc is in my room, and YES im on it till like 1 am sometimes, but tbh, i come off when I feel tired, like for example, 1 in the morning lol. Thing is, I dont get tired, and I would rather spend my awake time staring at a 17 inch square that fires trillions of electrons at me (an old CRT monitor for the less technically minded, and for the REALLY non techies, the big fat type of tv and computer screen)
And, as usual Atikin, **BRILLIANT**
Oscar | Sep 27, 2009 | Reply
THis is very true, i cant deny it.
It happens to me now as a teenager
Emma | Oct 11, 2009 | Reply
I know this is always happening 2 me
i showed this 2 mii mother you should have seen the look on her face
CA Johnson | Oct 11, 2009 | Reply
This was a very interesting article. I used to have trouble waking up on time when I was a teenager and now I know why. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
Judy Sheldon | Oct 11, 2009 | Reply
What a wonderful and entertaining article. I take melatonin each night to experience a more restful sleep. It helps.
Momoko | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
That. Explains. So. Many. Things.
THANK. YOU.
The one who poops many | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
I guess I have adapted to my sort of dictated body clock. But anyways I still struggle to get out of bed, and now I know why so thank you.