A new study in the journal Pediatrics reveals American teenagers are sleeping less than ever before. Researchers found a consistent decline across all age groups from 1991 to 2023, with only 22 percent of older adolescents getting at least seven hours of sleep per night.
In Canada, a January 2026 study found 37 percent of youth aged 12 to 17 fail to meet the national recommendation of eight to ten hours per night.
Experts point to several culprits: excessive smartphone use, demanding schedules, and early school start times. The average school start time in Canada is 8:30 a.m., while in the U.S. it is 7:45 a.m., forcing teens to wake as early as 6:30 a.m. to prepare.
Jean-Philippe Chaput, a pediatrics professor at the University of Ottawa, says about 30 percent of Canadian adolescents are sleep-deprived, a figure that has worsened over the decades.
Holmes, founder of Sleep Efficiency, warns that poor sleep habits formed in the teenage years often persist into adulthood, making it critical to address the issue now.