Teen sleep is getting wrecked by more than just phones

Short Wave

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🗓️ 6 March 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Teens aren’t getting enough sleep! And a two-decade study suggests it’s getting worse. Scientists found that the number of high schoolers getting insufficient sleep — less than seven hours a night — has increased from 69% to 77%. The throughline? There wasn’t one. Teens had bad sleep habits across most demographics, including race, gender and grade level. The findings were published this week in the journal JAMA.

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
0:05.4	investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish.
0:11.1	More information is available at Hewlett.org.
0:14.5	Hey, Shorewavers, Regina Barber here.
0:16.2	And Katie Riddle.
0:17.5	And today we have our biweekly science news roundup featuring the hosts of
0:21.3	all things considered. So here with Katie and I, this time is Scott Detrow. Hello. This is one
0:26.8	of my favorite segments to do. I hear we are talking about the fact that apparently teens are still
0:31.1	not sleeping enough. Yeah. And new insights on a potential mega thrust earthquake in the Pacific
0:36.9	Northwest.
0:41.0	And ancient recipes discovered in prehistoric pottery.
0:45.2	All of that on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
0:55.9	Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
1:01.7	investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish.
1:04.7	More information is available at Hewlett.org.
1:07.6	So, Scott, where would you like to start?
1:14.5	Regina, I feel like usually you're taking me deep out into the cosmos, but let's just start with like, you know, something much closer to home.
1:17.5	Right, that teen in my house that doesn't talk to me?
1:19.6	The surly one who's apparently not getting enough sleep.
1:20.6	Yes, yes.
1:29.2	So researchers studied the sleep habits of high school students from 2007 to 2023, and they found that the number of teenagers getting insufficient sleep that's less than seven hours a night is on the rise.
1:34.3	Now it's more than three quarters of these high school students.
	...

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