Adequate Sleep

Adequate Sleep in United States

United States

Sleep is critical for brain and body functions, including the immune system, hormonal and metabolic systems, cognition and emotion. Sleep also helps heal the body, repair blood vessels and regenerate cells. In children, adequate sleep helps prevent poor mental health, attention problems, injuries, obesity and diabetes. 

For years, it was believed that people needed less sleep as they developed from infancy to adulthood; however, recent research shows that teenagers need more sleep than they did as children or will as adults. School start times often do not align with adolescent sleep needs. Add a students' homework load — one report revealed an average of three hours of homework per weeknight — and only 6.6% of teenagers are getting the recommended nine hours of sleep per night.

Not getting adequate sleep is associated with higher rates of: 

• Obesity, type 2 diabetes, blood glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure and inflammatory markers.
• Psychiatric disorders and mental health issues.
• Poor verbal IQ in young children.

For adolescents, adequate sleep is associated with better academic performance and lower risk of unsafe behaviors and car accidents.

The prevalence of adequate sleep among children ages 4 months to 17 years is higher among:

• Non-Hispanic white children compared with non-Hispanic Black children.
• Children from higher-income households compared with children from lower-income households.
• Children with health insurance compared with uninsured children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers tips for parents to improve their children’s sleep:

• Set consistent bed and wake-up times, seven days a week.
• Keep electronic devices out of the bedroom.
• Ensure the bedroom is quiet, dark and at a comfortable temperature.
• Avoid consuming large meals or caffeine before bed.
• Model good sleep behavior.
• Ensure children are active during the day.
• Maintain a bedtime routine, such as a bath and bedtime story. 

Healthy People 2030 has a goal to increase the proportion of children who get sufficient sleep.

Pizza, Fabio, Sara Contardi, Alessandro Baldi Antognini, Maroussa Zagoraiou, Matteo Borrotti, Barbara Mostacci, Susanna Mondini, and Fabio Cirignotta. 2010. “Sleep Quality and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Adolescents.” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: JCSM: Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine 6 (1): 41–45.

Quist, Jonas S., Anders Sjödin, Jean-Philippe Chaput, and Mads F. Hjorth. 2016. “Sleep and Cardiometabolic Risk in Children and Adolescents.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 29 (October): 76–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2015.09.001.

Short, Michelle A., Sarah Blunden, Gabrielle Rigney, Lisa Matricciani, Scott Coussens, Chelsea M. Reynolds, and Barbara Galland. 2018. “Cognition and Objectively Measured Sleep Duration in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Sleep Health 4 (3): 292–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2018.02.004.

Weaver, Matthew D., Laura K. Barger, Susan Kohl Malone, Lori S. Anderson, and Elizabeth B. Klerman. 2018. “Dose-Dependent Associations Between Sleep Duration and Unsafe Behaviors Among US High School Students.” JAMA Pediatrics 172 (12): 1187. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2777.