Teenagers' desire to stay up late at night and in bed early in the morning is not laziness or rebellion. Rather, it reflects biological changes. I usually get seven or eight hours of sleep a night.
Proper sleep is as essential to life as food, water and air.
Just as children who are suffering from malnutrition fail to perform or learn as they should, so do adolescents who are sleep deprived. And just as a growing child tends to eat more than the rest of the family, he or she also requires more sleep. The lack of sufficient sleep significantly affects young people's health, safety, and learning abilities. Going to bed earlier is not a realistic option for many teenagers. Several of the nation's leading sleep researchers have shown that the biological clock shifts during puberty, making it more difficult, if not impossible, for teens to go to sleep before 10 p.m. and rise early the next morning.