Healthy Sleep Practices for Adolescents

Recommended Sleep Duration

• Ages 11–12: 9 to 12 hours per night, ideally about 10.5 hours.
• Ages 13–18: 8 to 10 hours per night is ideal.

Guidance for Parents:

• Encourage your teen to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, including weekends.
• Avoid letting your teen sleep more than 1 hour later on weekends than on school days. Sleeping more than 2 extra hours suggests they may not be getting enough sleep during the week.
• Limit or avoid caffeine altogether, especially in the afternoon and evening. Caffeine can cause insomnia, increase anxiety, and lead to headaches during withdrawal.
• Promote daily exercise, but avoid intense workouts within 2–3 hours before bedtime. Exercise helps improve sleep quality but can interfere if done too late.
• Keep bed as a place for sleep only—no gaming, texting, reading, or homework in bed.
• Have your teen avoid blue or bright light from screens (TV, computer, phones) for at least 1 hour before bed. Such light can delay the body’s internal clock, making it harder to fall asleep and wake up.
• Encourage exposure to natural light soon after waking to help reset the body’s melatonin cycle and promote alertness.
• Set firm limits on phone, texting, TV, and computer use during sleep hours. Ideally, devices should be left outside the bedroom. Teens are more likely to stick to this if parents enforce the rule.

These recommendations are especially important for teens struggling with or at risk of insomnia.