Does Your Teen Have a Bedtime?

on June 9, 2009 at 11:23 AM

study links teen depression to bedtimes New research suggests a link between bedtimes and teen depression. The study finds that teens who stay up past midnight on weeknights have a higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime.

Specifically, the results show that "middle- and high-schoolers whose parents don't require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42 percent more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime."

This is particularly worrisome given that teens these days are "multitasking" (texting, surfing the Web, watching TV, etc.) at all hours of the night instead of sleeping.

Experts recommend that teens and tweens get as much sleep as younger children—at least 9 hours a night, if possible.

Does your teen have a bedtime?

About the author Kim Conte

has shoes that make people stop her on the street and ask "Where did you get those?" but it doesn't work for taxi cabs as she was hit by one ... and lived to tell the tale. She has more freckles than Lohan but way less attitude. And she's a fierce cook with tons of recipes to share -- and wishes she could share some with Bourdain.

Filed Under: health, sleep, teens, tweens

Comments (8)

digitalscraps

on Jun 9, 2009 at 8:07 PM

Yes and No. I do enforce a bedtime with my youngest, he's 14 yrs old. He's a very active athlete so most of the time, he goes to bed on his own because he's so tired. But if he doesn't, I push him to get to bed by 10 pm. On the weekends, I let him stay up. I can usually tell when he's pushing the limit though because he gets very cranky. That's when I push again to get a full night's sleep and catch up on his rest.

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katishome

on Jun 9, 2009 at 11:10 PM

Yep both my kids have bedtimes my oldest (17) is in bed by 10 pm and youngest (11) is in bed by 9 pm on weeknights and not much later on the weekends, my oldest holds a p/t job on the weekends so no staying up to late for him.

dflygirl7

on Jun 10, 2009 at 10:10 AM

My 14 yr old dd is encouraged to go to bed by 10 on the weekdays and 11 on the weekend. She's in TKD and is a high honors student, so is either mentally or physically tired by then. Her phone is off by 9 and the computer shuts down at 10 (it's magic!!). Her 10 yr old brother stays up almost as late, but is into sports, so will often go to bed earlier on his own. We don't allow them to stay up after we are in bed, unless they're in their rooms reading or playing with the dog or hamster. They are both cranky when they don't get enough sleep and they know it!!

shorty13417

on Jun 10, 2009 at 6:15 PM

my 13 yr old son has a bedtime.. its 10 pm during school time and 11-11:30 pm on the weekends and when school isnt in.

ladygscott

on Jun 10, 2009 at 7:42 PM

Yeah! my boys 8 and 14 have a bed time of 9pm when iam home and most nights when iam at work they go to bed when they get tired...but i'll call them to tell them to go to bed, around 830, from there its up to them to obey....

jennylynn22003

on Jun 15, 2009 at 9:12 AM

Well, sorta!! My DD is 11 and usually she goes to bed at around 10 or so. On school nights I do ask for her to be in bed no later then 10:30pm. She doesnt argue, she enjoys sleeping!! LOL!! By boys are 8 and 9, on school nights in winter its 9pm, during Spring and Fall its 9:30pm on because its daylight later outside and they play longer out doors.

DeborahmomofH

on Oct 17, 2009 at 11:29 PM

My daughters bed time is 10 on school nights, no exceptions. On weekends usually it's 11 but sometimes I'll push that back a little.

AuntCam

on Jun 2, 2010 at 3:24 PM

Ladies , What dou you do with a 13 yr old boy who refuses to go to sleep until 1, 2, even 3 a.m? He reads, IMs, plays on his computer, watches TV... anything but sleep. And in the morning he's all bright-eyed and vivacious! It may be that he doesn't need as much sleep as other kids.