Bedtimes for teens?

[Guest Posts]

I have (almost) 3 teenagers – 1 x 12 years old, 1 x 14 years old and one that is 17 years old…. And trying to sort out when they go to bed is a nightmare and getting harder to enforce… I know it may sound stupid but is there a recommended time for them to go to bed at these ages – or is it a question of how much sleep that they have?

[Kerry Davies]

Firstly, thank you so much for your question.

The recommended sleep needs for a 12 year old is between 9-11hrs

For your 14 and 17 year old recommended is 8-10 hours.

I think the most important thing is how they feel in the day so use the average sleep needs as a guide.

What is probably the most important thing to consider is that the sleep/wake times are almost the same 7 days per week. What can happen is if having excessively late bedtimes and wake times at the weekend this can really impact on the internal sleep body clock and cause a difficulty with sleep during the week and being able to get up for school/college.