NOTE: The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended school start times no earlier than 8:30 for teens. Read more here.
A few years ago, I had a sixteen year old come into sleep clinic for insomnia. He was a hard-working student in a good school district. I asked him to describe his sleep problems to me. “I finish my homework at midnight every night,” he said, “and I can’t fall asleep by 12:10 AM.” Each of his Advanced Placement classes had 1-2 hours of assigned homework per night and he was not routinely finishing homework until 11 PM or 12 AM. This may be an exaggerated case [and note that the details have been changed a bit to protect patient privacy.] However, let’s do the math. The typical school day for a high school student in this country is between 6.5-7 hours per day. Most school districts start between 7-8 AM for high school students. Thus, kids are getting out of school between 2-3 PM. Many students do extracurriculars for a few hours after school and cannot start homework until after dinner (say 6:30 PM). The maximum recommended homework for a high school senior is three hours per night; for younger children, it is ten minutes per grade. If the student goes to sleep at 10 PM and gets up at 6 AM ( a typical wake time around here for high school students), this allows 8 hours of sleep. However, the typical teenager requires between 8.5-9 hours of sleep per night, so even a teen with good sleep habits generally sleep deprived. In Boston, this problem is frequently exaggerated by school choice where some children are assigned to better schools which are a long bus ride away. (These issues exist elsewhere. My friend Trapper Markelz grew up in Alaska and regularly took 45 minute bus trips twice a day to school.)
In their recent article, “To Study or to Sleep? The Academic Costs of Extra Studying at the Expense of Sleep“, Cari Gillen-O’Neel and colleagues studied the effects of staying up late on students. They studied 535 kids through high school. The average sleep time for these teens diminished from 7.6 to 6.9 hours of sleep from 9th to 12th grade. When they examined what happened when teens stayed up late to study for finish a project, they found that
Results suggest that regardless of how much a student generally studies each day, if that student sacrifices sleep time to study more than usual, he or she will have more trouble understanding material taught in class and be more likely to struggle on an assignment or test the following day.
Essentially, staying up late to cram tends not to help and actually worsens performance. This emphasizes the importance of encouraging good study habits in kids.
Excessive homework is not the only factor squeezing teenager’s sleep. My friend Lauren Daisley had a great video on CBS Sunday Morning several weeks ago discussing early school start times. Sleepiness in teenagers is a major public health issue and early school start times contribute to this. To highlight some recent research:
- Short sleep makes children obese.
- A recent study showed that teenagers who did not get enough sleep were more likely to develop insulin resistance, which is the precursor to type 2 diabetes.
- Sleepiness is a significant cause of automobile accidents which is the most common cause of death in teenagers.
- Depression, anxiety, and irritability are all associated with insufficient sleep.
There is a significant body of research showing the benefits of moving school start times later. Demonstrated benefits have included less tardiness and absenteeism, lower levels of depression, and, most significantly, lower levels of car accidents in teenagers. (There are several great summaries here from the National Sleep Foundation, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Psychology Today.)
I also think that there are more abstract benefits to avoiding overscheduling for children and teens. In William Deresiewicz’s 2009 essay, “Solitude and Leadership,” he writes about his experience as an admission officer at Yale (full disclosure: my alma mater.) He writes,
Well, it turned out that a student who had six or seven extracurriculars was already in trouble. Because the students who got in—in addition to perfect grades and top scores—usually had 10 or 12.
So what I saw around me were great kids who had been trained to be world-class hoop jumpers. Any goal you set them, they could achieve. Any test you gave them, they could pass with flying colors. They were, as one of them put it herself, “excellent sheep.”
He argues, however, that for real leadership and problem solvers, you need people who can think and innovate. And that solitude and time for reflection is critical for developing this faculty. Allowing teens extra time may not even hurt their college admission chances. I really enjoy the blog Study Hacks by Cal Newport, a computer science professor who been writing since he was a grad student. He wrote a great article (and a book as well) on how working against the conventional wisdom (e.g. doing a few extracurriculars instead of 10-12) can be a winning strategy for a motivated high school student. I highly recommend reading this: Want to Get into Harvard? Spend More Time Staring at the Clouds: Rethinking the Role of Extracurricular Activities in College Admissions.
Obviously, teenagers are not blameless. Screen time and social media shares some of the blame. But I am most concerned about these structural issues which do not allow enough of a sleep opportunity for kids. These issues are determined at the level of the school district. However, there are some actions that parents can take:
- The US is a relatively homework intense country compared to other industrialized countries with higher standardized test scores. Whether your child is in third grade or twelfth, keep an eye on the amount of homework they are receiving. The rule of thumb is ten minutes/grade level. Have a frank discussion with your child’s teachers or principal if it seems excessive. Be aware that excessive homework times can also reflect difficulties like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or learning disabilities.
- School start times are typically addressed at the town or district level. As you can imagine, this is a difficult issue to move at the national or state level. If you are concerned by the school start times in your district, go to school board meetings. Also, get involved with Start School Later, an organization dedicating to addressing this issue.
- Make sure that your child has an age appropriate bedtime allowing for enough sleep (10-11 hours in elementary school, 9-10 hours middle school, 9 hours high school). Limit screen time in the evenings before bedtime.
- Prolonged napping can result in significant difficulty at bedtime.
- Keeping screens out of the bedroom except when absolutely necessary can help avoid sleep problems in kids and teens.
- Going on a “light diet” to limit night time light exposure is important for limiting the impact of late night homework sessions on overall sleep patterns.
It is also important to understand the biology of when you fall asleep. This is comprised of a two part system: a) the homeostatic sleep drive (the longer you are awake, the quicker you fall asleep) and b) the circadian or body clock system which helps keep you awake in the evenings.
For more on the topic of homework vs sleep, here is an article I just wrote on the controversy about the value of homework.
Hi. I am a ninth grader and I am very stressed about how much work I have. I took an online class for Algebra 2 (which is a class meant for juniors) and almost failed it. I had 1 month to do over 100 assignments. For my first semester, i do not have to take a math class, but when second semester starts, I will have little to no sleep. I wake up at 5:00 and leave for the bus stop at 5:45 to pick me up at 5:55. I live about 15 minutes away from my school, but our school district is dirt cheap,and we load our buses over capacity, which is 65. We fit over 80. My school starts at 7:05. First period is AP World, second is free period, 3rd is AP Bio, 4th is french 2, 5th is Chemistry, 6th is Honors English, and 7th is gym. I already have 5 hours of homework per night and i have golf, football, and choir after school. I get home at 6, and then get ready for drivers ed, from 6:30-8:30, i get home at 8:45 and then start my homework. I get done at about 1:30 every night and i fall asleep at 2. And the cycle repeats. Im dropping gym for algebra 2 in the next semester, which means another hour of homework!
JT I am very sympathetic. Something has to give here. You may need to give up an activity to survive.
Hi Dr. Canapari
I’m a desperate mom!! My son choose 5 Ap classes in his senior year, he is not getting enough sleep and he procrastinate!
Please help me I tried to talk to his teacher his counslor to advise him but he doesn’t want to drop any of the Ap classes!!
I’m worry that his ego doesn’t let him drop!!
Sorry about my bad grammar !!
Please I need a helpful answer ..
THANK YOU
I hear where you are coming up. There is little evidence to support that this level of homework supports learning. I would take this up with the principal of the school and the superintendent of your district.
I have to do homework all night 7 days a week. even on holidays. I have to limit myself to only staying up to 2am to finish it.
John what grade are you in? Where do you go to school?
I typically get piled with homework every night and limit myself to going to bed at 2:30am and then having to wake up at 6 to catch the 1 hour long bus ride to the Junior high. I am in 9th grade and live in Woodinville WA but our school is on the other side of the city.
That sounds really hard.
I always have tons of homework in my AP World History class. On average, I get to bed at 12:30 AM. I have stayed up until 2 AM a couple nights so far this year, and have had a couple lucky nights where I’ve gotten to bed by 11:30 PM. I do homework almost every weekend.
As a high school junior, I must say that I’m slowly having to start missing at least one day a week to finish all of my homework.
Notice that I didn’t say sleep.
I have pulled all-nighters and haven’t finished my homework. And let’s just forget about studying.
Schools these days aren’t for learning- hell, I’m not learning. Quite frankly, I go to school because I have to. I’m so tired that all I can think about is staying awake. I get maybe 4-5 hours of sleep on a good night. Bad nights are 0. And m grades are dropping.
How am I supposed to succeed? My parents do not understand- they think sending me to school rather than letting me stay in is better (it’s not, I go and forget everything I studied for the previous night)
And forget procrastination.
I have no choice not to- if I can barely get the assignments that are due tomorrow done, how am I supposed to work ahead?
My best friend recently died. I somehow managed to fly to England, leaving at 6 pm on Friday, after getting home at three, and coming back 4 am on Monday, to get to her funeral. I barely had time to sleep that weekend- nor was I emotionally stable enough to do homework.
Not one of my teachers accepted my excuse of ‘I didn’t have time to sleep and eat and I was hallucinating this morning so I went to bed instead of writing an essay.’
I think I said it nicer.
My parents have made it clear that they think this is normal and right…
I can’t keep going anymore. I have a continuous headache that never lets up, no matter how much Tylenol I take. I’m not even allowed to drink coffee. Ever.
I keep forgetting to eat because I’m so stressed, I have regular nightmares, and I start feeling scared for no apparent reason at random times of the day.
I feel like I’m dying slowly.
What do I do?
I’m also 15 and a junior, and this is all with minimal distraction. I don’t even have a phone, and I don’t use social networking for stuff other than school.
@Aurora I’m concerned given the nature of your post. Can you take what you have written and share it with your parents and your pediatrician?
Hello! Thank you for your article. It proved to be a great source for a research paper I’m writing about limiting homework. I’m in high school myself, and I had a major problem with not getting enough sleep. Even when I do finish all my homework, it takes me hours to fall asleep! I was recently prescribed a medicine made for depression (which I’m dealing with as well) as a sleep aid. It works wonders! Also, I wanted to add that there’s a small mistake in your article I found while trying to quote you! “…the typical teenager requires between 8.5-9 hours of sleep per night, so even a teen with good sleep habits generally sleep deprived.” There needs to be the word “is” between habits and generally.
Thanks again!
Oops thank you Kelly.
i’m a freshman in high school and I have never been so overwhelmed with work. Most of my cost means complain about how much work they get and how little sleep they get Dave no idea what I go through. I’m taking an AP class and all the honors classes available. I get really goodgrades and am I also play a sport. It’s not like a once a week kind of thing. During the fall, it was every day immediately after school and I didn’t get home until seven at night. but even off-season there is still a big sports commitment. I have hours and hours of homework and usually not get to bed until at least one or two in the morning. I’m not even exaggerating; I promise. I have to get up at 5:20 every morning. I’m breaking down.
Dear Lexie. I feel your pain. Please print this article and your comment and share it with your pediatrician and your parents.
I’m far late to this article, but your writings concerning sleep deprivation are very interesting to me. I’m currently a junior in high school, and I get up at 5:30 and go to bed anywhere between 12- 2 AM. The drowsiness, inability to focus, and irritability that result from it are very real, and I’ve attempted speaking to school officials and teachers, only to no avail. They all insist that changing their schedule or the amount of homework given would either conflict with the curriculum or be too little for students. It isn’t okay, and the fact that our culture has to glorify teenagers staying up into the early morning that is only mere hours before they wake is ridiculous. This trend started for me when I got into high school, and the most anticipated years of my life have by far been the absolute worst- my motivation is at an all time low, I no longer have time to do anything along the lines of self indulgent that I once did (gaming, seeing friends, heck, even taking a warm bath), and the whole system has little benefit. The very things they intend to achieve with more homework are lost to sleep deprivation that effects school hours performance. I once dreamed of illustrating a webcomic, and doing my artwork for a living, but I no longer have time to practice. I’ve seen a literal decline in my ability, and it’s devastating. I had to give up what I enjoyed to maintain my grades, and now I’ll have to wait until i graduate to get back to the level I was once capable of. I’m firm in the belief that the entire school system has warped into quite a monster, one that is working teenagers into a stupor. There is a lot that needs to change, and much of it could without losing the integrity of the ‘free’ education that is imposed on us. Hopefully one day there will be enough voices to change something. If there are, rest assured I will be one of them. And again, while a little late… I think I’ll attempt that 30 extra minutes of sleep resolution…
Thank you for your journals. I’ll be reading more and checking in for certain.
Thank you for sharing Lori and I could not agree more. Check out the Cal Newport book above– he would argue that focusing on things (e.g. your art) you love may help you succeed in high school. That being said, once you get out of high school it will get better. Hang in there.
I am in IB Diploma Program and my school goes on for 8 hours. Starting from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, which I still have extra curricular activities until 5:00pm. And I always get stressed with the amount of homework I have. So I decided to nap for an hour or so, before starting on my homework because if I don’t, I am unable to think properly. This makes my homework got delayed, so I have to sleep later than I should. Sometimes I don’t sleep at all. It also affects my eating habits and my menstruation cycle. It’s just so dreadful that I got so much stress. I need more sleep.
Rini you are not alone! In terms of napping, try for a 20 minute nap as this will make you feel better but not make it as hard for you to fall asleep at night.
Thanks. It helped me with a debate in class!
Sometimes I only get my homework done by 2:00am and when that happens I always have to dim my lights low so that my parents don’t find out I’m awake and tell me to go to sleep. I want to sleep but I also want to get my homework done. My teachers say I should be studying half an hour at least for each subject but I don’t think they realise that since students at my school have 5 subjects this mean 2 and a half hours of study with extra homework which could add up to 3 and a half hours. I also have extracurricular activities after school and even during classes. Sometimes I don’t get a chance to have lunch because of school activities or incomplete homework, For music I should be playing for at least 2 hours on different instruments. It’s stressing me out but I don’t know what to do. No one seems to take me serious when I talk about all of this and being stressed.
Sometimes I only get four hours of sleep. I’m constantly trying not to fall asleep in class because that’ll get me a detention and then so much more stress. I thought students needed 7 hours of sleep at the most…?
I’m just so confused. Other girls in my school don’t seem to be having this issue at all. A girl I know keeps doing a whole lot of extra homework she wouldn’t need to do, and a friend of mine is in control of a school group and she’s constantly trying to get me to do new things but oh-my-god how is she doing so well in school and not constantly in a panic?
I must be doing SOMETHING wrong, and I don’t have any social media accounts (took up too much time), so I shouldn’t have an issue, right?
Laelyn there are lots of reasons why you might be having problems, starting with the fact that your sleep deprivation is making it harder for you to stay on top of things. I would encourage you to tell your parents what is going on and ask them to arrange a meeting at your school with your guidance counselor. You shouldn’t have to live this way. Good luck
ive been struggling to get to sleep lately i have tried and tried to get to sleep i yawn and i am tierd but just cant get any sleep which is making me really annoyed and frustrated can you please help me soon i dont know what to do to help it do i have imonisia
I’m an eighth grade student at a public middle school that starts at 7:13am. I try to fall asleep at 9:30pm since I wake up at 5:30am. During the school day I usually feel fine and not falling asleep in class but once I get home after a while I begin to crash. For example today when I got home at 3pm I felt fine, not significantly tired. But I decided to lay in the sun and after about 2 minutes I fell asleep and woke up 2 hours later. I thought I was getting enough sleep for me since I’ve had the same schedule for 2 years now, but now that I’m beginnning to fall asleep in the evenings and mid afternoons I’m not so sure. What can I do so I don’t feel like going to bed until 8:30-9pm or so naturally?
This is a really well written article. I’m suffering greatly from sleep deprivation which resulted today in a five hour nap (against my will). I’m not sure what to do, I’m in my school’s upcoming play which can keep me out very late. I’m in all honors, so my homework load is giant, but I have a problem staying focused. I wish things could be easier. What’s scary is that this is just the beginning of the year, I’m afraid of what my sleep is going to be like once midterms come up…
Hi Autumn– as a former drama kid, I definitely sympathize. Certainly, hopefully the play will end soon. I would absolutely encourage you to talk to your parents and your school counselors. Also, check out my article on homework if you have not already.
I don’t know about some teens, but i’m 14 in the 9th grade. I got accepted into something called the Early College Academy aka ECA for school which is college courses that i take in school and turn in online too. I have Field Hockey/Soccer practice after school. So I get home at 5:45-6:30pm and then I get some dinner which is like 30 mins and shower which is around 45 mins. Then, I go do my homework for my all honors classes and College classes homework. And everyday I usually go to sleep at 1am-1:30am. In the morning I wake up at 5:45am and I get ready for school. After that I try to get breakfast which is like once a week. And I walk to school. But because of my late sleep i’ve waken up late for about 10 times since school started 4 weeks ago. Thank god I get 10 mins before school starts usually when I get up late and I wouldn’t be counted late. But i’ve been having problems in school trying to stay up since I get about 4 hour ad a half of sleep and I don’t get lunch there all the time its lie twice a week since its disgusting. We also get homework for the weekends which is tons. So that’s how my everyday life started since school started 4 weeks ago. It’s been killing me. Everyone is telling me to quit my activities after school, but I really don’t want to. So I don’t know what to do to have time to get some sleep.
Thanks,
Dina 🙂
Hi Dina. I totally applaud your ambition. It sounds like this is going to be a difficult schedule to sustain. I would encourage you to talk with your parents and your school counselor. It is better to do a few things well instead of trying to do everything and burning out.
I get too much sleep and too much homework. I end up taking a nap at 6 pm and wake up 2 am realising i have just done nothing and have homework to do. Help?
Hi Basil. we need to stay out of your bed or on the situation we can fall asleep from 6 PM to 2 AM. I would recommend working at your desk or kitchen table so that you don’t fall asleep for a long period of time. You’d be better off taking a 15 or 20 minute nap immediately after school, provided you can make sure that you wake up shortly afterwards. Good luck.
Very interesting article!
I discovered this while researching how to manage the amount of sleep I get and still have time for extra curriculurs and homework. To give you an idea of my day, I wake up at 6:00am and then go to school for 7 hours. After school, I participate in clubs/sports. I don’t usually get home until around 6:30. Then I have dinner and start homework around 7:00-7:30. Nearly everyday, I do not finish homework and studying until 12-1:00am, leaving me with 5-6 hours of sleep every day. And here’s the worst part……. I’m only 14 years old!!!!!!
Any tips on how to get more sleep and still be able to complete my homework everyday?
Honestly, there is no way to manufacture more time during the day. I think you need to look and see if the amount of homework you receive is actually appropriate– if not, I would talk to your parents and your guidance counselor.
I’m 16, in sixth for currently doing my A Levels, I took textiles, art, photography and health and social care- all three art based subjects I do require me to do an extra 20 hours per 2 weeks and health and social is split up with 3 teacher, which all require me to complete different amounts of essays and cw each month or so. I find this extremely difficult to keep on top of my work. I finish sixth form at 3:20 and don’t get home till about 4, which is when I start doing my work, most days I have 1-2 frees consisting of 1 hour each where I will do some textiles or art as it’s much easier to complete them in sixth form. I try to balance my time out on the weekends also, so if I have a lot to complete for the following week I will just stay in all weekend to get it done. I am very dedicated to the subjects I do so I get all the work done on time, even if that means I don’t go to sleep till early hours in the morning. I’m in sixth form 5 days a week, i get up at 6 each morning and go to sleep around 12-1 most nights depending on the amount of work I need to complete. I have started to realise that when I have 4-5 hours of sleep I Get stressed a lot easier then normal, I get a mild headache and I never have much energy, my weight is about right for my age and height maybe abit under but I just wanted to share this with you as I’m curious to know what the impact of this little sleep will Have on me if I continue in the future.
Hi Ella– there are lots of consequences of chronic sleep deprivation (starting with your headache, stress, and low energy). This AAP document is a good place to look if you want to read more.
I really enjoyed this article. I thank you so much because my paper was on sleep deprivation and the effect it has on teens. I’m a 13 year old high schooler suffering from depression, sleep deprivation, insomnia, and sleep paralysis. Because of the way my schedule is set up, I normally go to sleep at 4:00am everyday only to wake up at 6:45 every morning. Most nights are often interrupted by just waking up out of the blue. Should I see a doctor? Am I in any immediate danger? Any tips to help? Thanks.
I would absolutely recommend that you discuss this with your pediatrician and your parents as it is pretty hard to be healthy on three hours of sleep a night. Best of luck.
I am a Junior in High School, and lately (especially over the past month), I have been getting a lot of homework (I’m taking a study break right now). To start it off, I am in as many AP classes as my school offers, and the rest of my classes are Honors. On a typical school day, I get up at 6. Because I go to a private school that is pretty far away from my house, other students on my bus are able to sleep, but I can not sleep on a bus (or in a car for that matter, just something my body doesn’t let me do). On top of that, it’s not like I can do homework on the bus because I get car sick (or in this case bus sick) if I concentrate on anything in front of me. I get to school, and all day, most of my teachers don’t teach me anything. They mainly just go off on tangents, or yell at the kids who won’t give into their crap (excuse my language), and stopped doing their homework at 10 or 11. Because of this we “need to teach ourselves at home.” Now I am the type of person who can do that (In my free time or study breaks, I have been teaching myself computer programming), but I just don’t have the time. While I don’t do many extra curricular activities, I am high ranking in scouts, and have many meeting a week. These meetings are generally around an hour and a half long (although they are usually half an hour away from my house). That isn’t too bad, and shouldn’t really effect my sleep, but my schoolwork does. For example, on Tuesday, I finished my homework at 1:30, and then on Wednesday, I finished my homework at 1:00. Both nights I got home around 3, did homework until 5:30, where I ate dinner, I got ready for my meeting, went to the meeting, and got home around 8:30-9:00. then it was right back to homework and I didn’t finish until the times I just specified. This weekend was even worse (OK, part of it was my own falt for underestimating the time my homework will take, but I did about an hour of homework on Thursday (I had Friday off, and this was where I could’ve done more, and should’ve done more), I did 7 hours of homework on Friday, 3 hours on Saturday (I had multiple meetings, and other things I planned over a month ago), and then today (Sunday), I have done 8 hours so far (as I said, I’m taking a break, but this is only my 3rd break today), and will be lucky if I get to bed before midnight. I don’t know what teachers are thinking when they give us over 20 hours of homework on a 3 day weekend. This wasn’t even the worst weekend either. I camp a lot, and that is from Friday at around 6 until Sunday at around noon. I don’t have time to do homework when I’m camping, and some of those weekends, I’ve had in excess of 15 hours of homework. It seems like the teachers are expecting us to do nothing but school. What really gets me angry is when we take a test, and after a week, the teacher doesn’t have it graded, and their excuse is that they have multiple classes. So what, I have multiple classes also, and a life (no matter how much they don’t want us to have that). To make matters worse, I just applied for a job (hey, I want a car), so I’ll need to stay up even later. Thankfully my parents are very understanding, so if I have a lot of homework the usually will help me with my chores, but there are multiple other people who have it much worse than me. They have sports and games, and a bunch of other things. Just last Wednesday, the kid I was sitting next to me fell asleep (he is in all the same classes as me, but he has more extracurricular activities than me, so the night before he went to bed at 4), but it just shows that they are giving us too much! I spend 6 hours in school every day, and have a 45 minute one way trip to or from school. Add that to my 7 or 8 hours of homework, and you’re looking at 15.5 hours a day dedicated to school. They really need to step up their game, and stop with all of this homework.
So, I will admit that in the beginning of the year, I was getting about 2 hours of homework a night, but the moment the second quarter hit, it was all downhill from there, and I don’t think the teachers will be letting off any time soon. In the 1st quarter, my average was a 98.7. Since then, it has dropped to about a 93. Now, I get headaches almost every day, I am physically and mentally tired, and sometimes consider just quitting all together. In school (and out of school), I find myself loosing concentration, being worried, and anxious all the time, and my reaction time being much slower. All of this I think has to do with sleep deprovision because of school work.
Now, that I have gotten all of that out of my system, I have 1 class that I honestly think is doing OK with homework, and that is math. It’s not like the other classes where they are giving homework to give homework, and no one is learning anything from it, or they are “self teaching”, it is one of those things where it is just to make sure that we remember what we are doing, and it is not like it is that much homework, a max of half an hour a night, and I feel that is reasonable.
Sorry if this didn’t make much sense, I’m really tired from working all day (and am worried about not being able to finish my homework), I tried my best to make you understand my situation.