Researchers at the University of Connecticut reported on March 2, 2026 that teenagers across the country are sleeping less. Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. And the problem appears to be social.
Teens not getting enough sleep has been reported as a problem in the medical literature since at least the early 20th century. A 1905 Lancet study of the sleeping hours of boys attending British boarding schools worried that night lights were preventing them from getting enough sleep, and suggested that “it is neither physiological nor prudent to go to bed late and rise early.”
By the late 1950s, public attention was focused on nighttime entertainment such as radio and television, and teenagers were staying up late into the night. More recently, studies have linked sleep deprivation to overstimulation, mental health problems, accidents, and academic challenges.
But teenagers are sleeping even less than they used to, report T. Greg Lee, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University School of Medicine, and colleagues in the latest survey of youth risk behaviors conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Youth Risk Behavior Survey provides nationally representative data to examine long-term trends in risk behavior among teens. Rhee et al.’s analysis of survey data from 2007 to 2023 showed that more teens are sleep-deprived than previous studies, with more than 50% of teens in the latest survey reporting less than five hours of sleep a night.
Sleeping less than five hours a night is considered very short sleep and is associated with emotional regulation problems such as anxiety and depression, poorer academic performance and neurocognitive development, and increased risk of obesity and diabetes.
In the latest study, the number of teens getting less than five hours of sleep a night increased across all subgroups, regardless of whether they had risk factors such as depressive thoughts or controlled substance use, excessive screen time, or no risk factors at all. The number of teens getting enough sleep, defined as eight or more hours a night, has fallen from more than 30% in 2007 to less than 25% in 2023.
“These trends highlight the need for population-level interventions for teenagers. For example, later school start times may increase sleep time, which may lead to improved mental health and increased academic engagement,” Lee et al.
Further research is needed to determine what interventions are effective at the population level. For example, Lee suggests researchers investigate whether they can improve sleep health in teens by reforming their school and extracurricular schedules to reduce nighttime demands.
sauce:
University of Connecticut
Reference magazines:
Bommersbach, T.J. Others. (2026). Sleep deprivation in U.S. adolescents across behavioral risk groups. Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2026.1417. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2845759.
