Why do junior and senior high school teenagers need more sleep?

Just like food, sleep is important for health. In fact, sleep is food for the brain. The reason is during sleep, many activities are carried out by the brain. Therefore, skipping sleep, aka staying up late can be dangerous. If children and adolescents stay up late, it is not impossible that their school performance will decline.

Then, how long is the ideal sleep time for teenagers? Is it the same as adult bedtime?

How much sleep do teens need?

Every child needs a different amount of sleep based on their age. Adolescents in junior high school (aged 13-15 years) and high school (aged 16-18 years) also need different sleeping times

Sufficient sleep time for junior high school adolescents is around 9-11 hours per day. That means no less than seven hours and no more than twelve hours per day.

While high school teenagers need enough sleep, about 8-10 hours per day. This means that it should not be less than seven hours and no more than eleven hours in one day.

Adolescents who don't get enough sleep have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, injury, poor mental health and problems with concentration and behavior.

Why do teenagers need more sleep?

When compared to adults, teenagers do need more sleep. Generally, adults need 6-9 hours of sleep per day. Meanwhile, teenagers need 9-11 hours per day.

Adolescents need more sleep time to meet the energy needs needed to carry out their activities in waking time.

Generally, teenagers have an irregular sleep schedule every day. Teenagers tend to stay up late on the weekends as a way to recover from sleep debt from previous days.

However, going to bed late at night will only make their biological clock worse, making it more difficult for them to fall asleep at a normal bedtime for a week. So, you could say they are in a circle of bad sleep patterns. During the school day, they have to stay up every afternoon and end up piling up at the end of the week.

This leaves teens exhausted on weekends and sleeping all the time. If it is in the beginning of the week again, aka Monday, the teenager will repeat the cycle.

Adequate sleep is important for teenagers

Sleep is very important for the health and function of daily organs. It is just as important as a healthy diet and physical activity. At all stages of life, the brain remains active during sleep, processing memories and emotions, invigorating cells and cleaning up waste materials that can slow or impair brain function.

In adolescence, the brain is still developing, and adequate sleep is essential for brain development. The prefrontal cortex of the brain is one of the last areas of the brain to develop and mature during adolescence. This part of the brain plays a role in complex thinking and decision making, as well as regulation of emotions. This part of the brain is very sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation.

Adolescents who have short sleep times are at risk for intellectual, social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Insufficient sleep in adolescents can have an impact on: