The Science of Sleep

Meet Zara, a sixteen-year-old who stays up until 2 a.m. scrolling her phone every night, then drags herself through school the next day barely awake. Zara's story is incredibly common — sleep researchers estimate that most teenagers are chronically SLEEP-DEPRIVED, meaning they regularly get far less rest than their bodies and brains actually need. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teens get between eight and ten hours of sleep each night for optimal health. Most teens in the United States, however, average only about 6.5 to 7 hours on school nights, creating what scientists call a SLEEP DEBT — a running deficit that builds up over time and is not easily erased. Understanding why sleep matters so deeply is one of the most practical and life-changing things a teenager can learn, because the effects of poor sleep reach into almost every area of daily life. Zara's journey through the science of sleep is about to change the way she — and you — think about rest forever.