The statistics are somewhat staggering. The accepted required amount of sleep for children and teens is nine hours per night. In the NSF study only 10 percent of teens got their nine hours on weeknights, compared to 19 percent of preteens and 69 percent of children. Strikingly, 56 percent of teens and 29 percent of preteens slept less than seven hours. At that rate, a five-day school week would generate a massive sleep debt in the majority of teens. Parents most certainly realize this when their teens and preteens sleep in on the weekends in an attempt to pay off that debt.
