Why Kids and Teens Aren't Sleeping (And How to Help)

April 06, 2025By Irene Falcone

More than half of 16 and 17 year olds are not getting enough sleep during the school week.

Is it just me, or does getting a teenager out of bed on a school morning feel like an Olympic sport? We spend the early years obsessing over nap schedules, then watch all those good habits unravel as our kids grow up. And while we talk plenty about adult insomnia, our kids are quietly having a sleep crisis of their own. Here is what is happening, what it means for their health, and what we can do to help.

How Much Sleep Are Our Kids Actually Getting?

It is easy to assume kids sleep well because they have no bills to worry about. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data says otherwise. Children aged 5 to 17 average 9.8 hours a night, but that drops fast in the teenage years. On school nights, 27% of 12 to 13 year olds are not meeting sleep guidelines, and by 16 to 17 that jumps to more than half, at 52%. Most of our older teens are running on empty right when their brains and bodies are doing some of their biggest developmental work.

And no, sleeping until lunchtime on Sunday does not undo a sleep-deprived school week, as much as our teenagers wish it did.

Why Are Our Kids So Tired?

The Body Clock Shift

When puberty hits, the circadian rhythm naturally shifts backwards. Teen bodies start releasing melatonin, the sleep hormone, later in the evening than they did in childhood. Your 15-year-old might not feel tired at 9pm because their biology is telling them to stay up later and sleep in later. Society asks them to do the exact opposite.

Early School Starts

That biological shift crashes straight into early school start times. A teenager waking at 6am for the bus is being jarred awake in the middle of their biological night. Add homework, sport and a part-time job, and the window for actual rest shrinks fast.

Screens in the Bedroom

Smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles emit blue light that tricks the brain into thinking it is still daytime, which suppresses melatonin just when it should be rising. And the content keeps the nervous system switched on. A brain cannot go from a group chat drama straight into deep sleep.

What Does Poor Sleep Do to Growing Bodies?

School Performance

Deep sleep is when the brain consolidates memories, processes what was learned that day and clears out cellular waste. Too little of it and kids get brain fog, shorter attention spans and patchy memory. Focus drops, impulse control drops, and grades usually follow.

Mood and Mental Health

Ever noticed how everything feels a hundred times worse after a bad night? For a teenager already riding the hormonal rollercoaster, sleep deprivation amplifies it all. Chronic lack of rest is strongly linked to a higher risk of anxiety and depression in adolescents. Without enough sleep the brain’s emotional centre becomes hyper-reactive while the logical part that keeps it in check goes sluggish, and that is a recipe for mood swings and short fuses.

Growth and Immunity

The deepest stages of sleep are when the body releases human growth hormone for tissue repair and growth spurts, and when the immune system produces its infection-fighting cells. A chronically tired child catches everything going around the classroom.

How Can We Help Our Kids Sleep Better?

We cannot change school start times, but we can change what happens at home.

Set a Tech Curfew

The hardest rule to enforce and the one that works best. Devices out of the bedroom at least an hour before bed, charged overnight in the kitchen. If the phone doubles as the alarm clock, an old-fashioned digital clock solves that argument.

Build a Wind-Down Routine

Toddlers get a bath and a book to signal bedtime, and older kids need a version of the same. The last hour of the evening is for low-stimulation things: a real book, some light stretching, a calming podcast.

Keep Wake Times Steady

Letting teenagers sleep until noon on Saturday is tempting, but wildly shifting wake times confuse the body clock. Keep weekend wake-ups within an hour or two of school days and the Monday alarm hurts a lot less.

Set Up the Bedroom for Sleep

Cool, quiet and as dark as possible. Blackout curtains block the streetlights and the morning sun, and a gentle magnesium lotion or a calming essential oil can round out the wind-down.

Natural Sleep Aids for Babies, Kids and Tweens

Healthy routines do most of the work, but sometimes little ones (and their parents) can use a gentle hand from nature. These are all family-friendly, and each one tells you the ages it suits.