Hacker News Reader

Comment by coding123 | Hacker News Reader

Or you know have them go to bed at 10 instead of let the play video games until 2am.

Teenagers natural sleeping cycle is markedly later than any other age bracket. When I was one, I wasn't allowed to play any videogames past 20:30, and I would often spend the evening reading books by a nightlight. Everyday I cycled for almost 2 hours (at ~20-25 kmh), so I got some regular exercise each day too.

Nevertheless, I would still on occasion go to bed at 10:30 (had to get up at 6:30) and lie awake in bed till 01:00-02:00am.

Would that still be the case in the middle of winter, when it gets dark at 5:00 PM?

Not the parent, but I grew up in the North of Scotland where it gets dark between 4-5pm for several months of each year, and as a teenager I could never sleep before 1-2am.

I was always forced to get up early, which of course resulted in me being extremely tired during the day, which negatively impacted upon my life (academically, relationships etc).

Seems like there has to be a better way.

According to studies made in UK that I'm too lazy to find; yes.

It's dark in the morning too, maybe going to school before dawn is the major problem, given that the schools are closed in the summer.

I've heard of doctors prescribing melatonine, which is absurd when the problem basically is cultural.

It is the case further north too, where winter daylight is 0-3 hours.

I had friends who went to school in nearby city - meaning they had to wake up 5:45 to catch the bus every day. Their sleeping schedule changed after few weeks - they went to sleep sooner then me every day and it became "new normal" for them.

Likely, if the school and whole world moved every activity an hour up, you would lie awake till 02:00-03:00.

It is same with adults and same with little kids. When you wake them up regularly determines when they will need to sleep.

People with sleep problems have sleep problems no matter flexible schedule or what.

The whole "just go to bed early. duh!" mentality never worked for me. It still doesn't. I'd just lay there and couldn't fall asleep.

It's not as easy as "just go to bed earlier."

I don't think you should be downvoted, but there are parts missing to your comment. Teenagers have more distractions than ever, so it's easier to stay awake later. Teenagers also do less exercise than they have in the past. Just going outside and running around with friends is often a thing of the past.

Whenever someone tells me they have a hard time going to sleep, my first question is always to ask if they exercise. I rarely stayed up past 10pm, much less past midnight as a teenager because my friends and I were getting up early to surf, ski, skate, play football, basketball, baseball, etc... By the time 10pm rolled around I was dead tired and ready to sleep. And on days I had to work after school, I got home around 10 and would literally pass out.

I know the environment is different, but my experiences make me cautious to say 'all teenagers' have different rhythms or want to stay up all night because of something biological.

To add an anecdote, when I was a teenager I was on varsity track which meant 8 mile warm up runs, followed by 2 hours of practice, with 1 hour of weights afterwards.

Then I would head over to theatre which gave to more hours of backstage construction work.

Despite all that 'exercise', I still stayed up till 1am at a minimum, and sometimes didn't fall asleep till 3am.

So anecdotally, what worked for you, didn't work for me as a teenager.

My 15 year old son has had incredible difficulty going to sleep at a reasonable hour until recently when he started running with me. Now his problem seems to be gone. Go figure.

Teenagers are near their peak physical capability, yet most get very little physical activity.

Even if that were the dichotomy (and it may not be, for reasons pointed out in other comments), I'm not convinced that getting up at 7AM to go to high school is a more enriching experience than playing (certain) video games until 2AM.

When I was a teenager I would happily program until 02:00 and getting to sleep earlier was pretty much impossible. I could lie in bed for a few hours but unless it was 02:00 I was not going to sleep. I still do the same activities now but at 23:30 I'm done for the day and can't think well anymore.

Or maybe you and I should just go to bed at 7pm to match the circadian rhythm of the elderly? Circadian rhythm changes based on age, that much seems to be biological fact.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com