US-Teenager bekommen weniger Schlaf als je zuvor. Hausaufgaben, sozialer Druck und Jobs halten Jugendliche immer noch wach, aber jetzt rauben ihnen Bildschirmzeit und soziale Medien den Schlaf. Nur 22 % der älteren Jugendlichen gaben an, jede Nacht mindestens 7 Stunden zu schlafen.

US teens getting less sleep than ever, new report finds

Homework, social pressure and jobs still keep teens up but now screen time and social media rob their sleep

A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that today’s teenagers are [sleeping](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/sleep) less than ever before.

The findings, which appeared in [Pediatrics](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/doi/10.1542/peds.2025-074933/207534/Sleep-Duration-Among-US-Adolescents-1991-2023?redirectedFrom=fulltext), showed a consistent decline in sleep across every age category. The latest figures revealed record-low sleep levels for all groups, with only 22% of older adolescents saying they slept at least seven hours each night.

“Some barriers to sleep faced by teens have existed across generations, such as the increased homework and extracurricular demands that come with high school, social pressures to stay up late with peers, and jobs,” said Rachel Widome, lead author on the study and a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public [Health](https://www.theguardian.com/society/health).

“Other issues, though, are new in recent years, such as increasingly ever-present screens and social media as well as recent society-wide stressors such as the pandemic, social unrest or [militarized policing](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/06/us-military-grade-weapons-drones-congress),” she added.
[](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/24/extra-sleep-each-night-reduce-heart-attack-risk-study-finds)
The [study](https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/todays-teens-are-sleeping-less-ever) also reported growing gaps in sleep outcomes. Black and Latino teens, along with adolescents whose parents have lower levels of education, are becoming increasingly less likely to get adequate sleep compared with other groups.

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/doi/10.1542/peds.2025-074933/207534/Sleep-Duration-Among-US-Adolescents-1991-2023

The way the brain gets attached to screens is both amazing and horrifying. Our innate tendency is to fill our idleness and boredom with something/anything. When you fill that idleness and boredom with your phone all the time, you develop a dependency that is really really hard to shake. Teens and adults both now need their body to basically hit that wall where their body’s can’t stay awake any longer in order to fall asleep, instead of lying down and winding down into sleep naturally. In other words, we have to hit shutdown mode in order to break that dependency. 

When school busses come at 530 to the stop, school starting at 7. It’s early. Why? Many students work after school. Because they want to and they have to, to help the families.
Many students are being pressured to take ap, de, heavy loads of classes. School has to start later. Stop pressuring students to take these heavy class loads.

Interesting that they include homework in this study as contributing more than ever to lack of sleep. I teach, and the students at my school have MUCH less homework than we did. The only class that regularly give homework is math, and it’s not the voluminous assignments of old.

My wife is a teacher and kids definitely have it easier nowadays. You’d basically have to get expelled and drop out to not get a high school degree, and there’s no such thing as failing no matter how bad they do, some don’t even show up and pass. And I live in a top 3 state for education. How about reducing the 9-10 hours of phone interaction they all rip? That may improve sleep. We’ve gotten generationally soft and the educational governing bodies have bent so far.

I snuck out and hung out with friends all the time in high school. I went to bed at recent hours – it’s not good for brains but I don’t think this is really a new thing is there a comparison to 10 years ago?