A study in the journal Pediatrics has found that American teenagers are sleeping less than ever before.
Researchers found a consistent decline in sleep across every age category, with the latest figures revealing record-low sleep levels for all groups, with just 22 per cent of older adolescents saying they slept at least seven hours each night.
The outcomes of the study represent more than 400,000 American teenagers nationally from 1991 to 2023 who participated.
In Canada, a January 2026 study found that 37 per cent of youth between 12 and 17 years old do not meet the minimal sleep duration recommendation based on the country’s national guidelines.
The Public Health Agency of Canada states that the recommended amount of sleep for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 is eight to 10 hours per night.
“Canadian teenagers are under the same pressures as our neighbours [U.S.] academically, socially, and sleep is often the first thing sacrificed,” said Andrew Holmes, founder of Sleep Efficiency and registered polysomnographic technologist, in an emailed statement to Global News.
“What many parents don’t realize is that as teens transition to adults, there is a shift in their sleep architecture and sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. Due to this natural shift, they are staying up later but still need eight-10 hours of sleep to be optimal for peak performance.”
Are Canadian teenagers getting enough sleep?
Jean-Philippe Chaput, a professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Ottawa and a senior scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, said that Canadian teenagers are also not getting enough rest.
“What we see in Canada, adolescents [are] not sleeping enough, so sleeping in less than eight hours according to the recommendations,” he said. “It’s about one third of the population, so it’s more around 30 per cent not sleeping enough and 70 per cent in the good zones of eight to 10 [hours].”
Rebecca Robillard, co-chair of the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium and director of the clinical Sleep Research Unit at the University of Ottawa, said that getting enough rest during adolescence is “critical.”
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“Because of normal developmental changes, teens have a biological clock that runs later. This makes it physiologically more difficult for them to fall asleep early and wake up early,” she said in an emailed statement to Global News.
What is getting in the way of teenagers not getting enough sleep?
Holmes said there are “several factors contributing to poor sleep among teenagers today,” citing “demanding extracurricular schedules, increased homework loads and perhaps most significantly, excessive smartphone use.”
“Many teens are staying up late doom-scrolling through social media or worrying they’ll miss out on conversations and updates within their group chats, commonly referred to as ‘FOMO,’ or fear of missing out,” he said.
Chaput also said that screen time and social media play “a big role in explaining why teenagers don’t sleep enough,” although he understands why teenagers rely on social media.
“It [social media usage] delays bedtime — by doing so, they go to bed way later than they’re supposed to,” he said. “Social media is so important for teenagers because they can chat with their friends, they post pictures, but they form their identity to be independent during this time.”
Given the wide timespan the study analyzed without the presence of the Internet and social media, and the results still being consistent with poor sleeping habits, Chaput said that social media makes lack of sleep “very prevalent.”
“I think teenagers have added pressure, and then with social medias and what happens online, so I think it’s even harder now than 30 years ago to meet the seat duration recommendations, even though even at that time, many of them were not meeting them,” he said.
“It’s just getting worse over time.”
Robillard also stated that “many teens and adults alike prioritize other aspects of life and even other aspects of health,” such as nutrition and exercise, before sleep.
In addition, early school start times can also play a role in why teenagers are not sleeping enough, with Holmes stating that “with early morning school start times, they [teenagers] are often not getting the necessary amount [of sleep].”
Chaput said that the average school start time in Canada is 8:30 a.m., while being 7:45 a.m. in the U.S.
“Teenagers have to wake up to get ready and catch the bus and to go to school, so if school starts at 8 a.m., you need to wake up at least at 6:30 [a.m.], so you’re sleep-deprived,” he said. “It’s tough to get your eight to 10 hours.”
As a result, poor sleep habits as a teenager can translate into how adults prioritize sleep.
“The teenage years are when many long-term behavioural patterns are formed, including sleep routines,” said Holmes.
“If chronic sleep deprivation, inconsistent schedules and late-night screen use become normalized early on, those habits often persist later in life unless there is a conscious effort to change them.”
A national survey conducted by Leger in March 2026 states that 41 per cent of Canadians are getting less than seven hours of sleep per night, with 57 per cent struggling to fall asleep and 71 per cent reporting difficulty staying asleep.
Nearly 65 per cent of those who reported seven or more hours of sleep also said they struggle with falling or staying asleep.
“Almost everything is linked to our sleep. We sleep about one-third of our lives. So that’s many years of our life that we spent asleep,” Chaput said. “I think we need to value more sleep in our society, and I think it’s probably [the] teenage years, a period where we don’t value sleep enough.”