how much sleep should a teenager get

Teenagers generally should get about 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night for healthy growth, learning, mood, and safety.

Quick Scoop

• Ideal range: 8–10 hours per 24 hours for ages 13–18.

• Many teens only get around 6.5–7.5 hours, which is usually not enough.

• Too little sleep is linked with problems in attention, behavior, learning, mental health, and even physical safety (like driving risk).

• A few teens may feel okay slightly outside this range, but regularly getting much less than 8 hours is considered insufficient for most.

Why teens need that much

• The teenage years are a phase of intense brain and body development, so sleep is when a lot of “behind-the-scenes” growth, memory consolidation, and emotional processing happens.

• Hormonal and biological clock changes in adolescence naturally push teens to fall asleep later and wake up later, but early school start times and heavy schedules often cut sleep short.

What happens if a teen is not getting enough

Regularly sleeping less than recommended is associated with:

• Daytime sleepiness and trouble focusing in class
• Lower grades and learning difficulties
• Irritability, low mood, higher risk of depression and anxiety
• Greater risk of accidents and injuries (including driving)
• Poorer physical health over time (weight, immune function, etc.)

Simple rule of thumb

• If a teen needs an alarm to wake up, is very sleepy during school, or “catches up” by sleeping much longer on weekends, they are probably not getting enough sleep on school nights.

• Aiming for a consistent 8–10 hours most nights is a practical, research-backed target.

Bottom line: For most teenagers, 8–10 hours per night is the healthy, recommended amount of sleep.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.