Why Are Teens So Tired?

The biological reason for teens' need for caffeine.

Do you ever wonder why the media perpetuates stereotypes of teens being lazy, not wanting to wake up in the morning, needing excessive amounts of coffee and energy drinks to get through the day? Well it turns out this stereotype is partially true, charged by the differences in teenage hormones.

Teenage circadian rhythm differs from that of children and adults. These hormonally influenced sleep patterns show that teenagers tend to get sleepy later in the night, but due to early mornings for school, they tend to not get the 8-10 hours of sleep that they need. Before puberty, adolescents get sleepy around 9 pm. When puberty begins, this rhythm shifts to 2-4 hours later. Now, teens get tired around 11 pm-1 am. When the school system usually requires teens to wake up as early as 5 am in order to get to school, this lack of sleep is a far-reaching epidemic.

Sleep is important for your overall health: helping your body fight off disease, retaining information for learning and memory, and keeping you alert and awake for when the day comes. With so many teens only getting 4-5 hours a night, this raises major concerns for the health of our teens.

Teens aren’t actually lazy, they just need to get more sleep. Tips include reducing screen time before bed, this reduces light in order to help signal melatonin production and tell your body that it's time to sleep.

So let's not blame our teens for their early morning grogginess and irritability, it's simply a biological predisposition that causes their sleep patterns to change.