Today, NPR reports that the typical high school senior gets less than 7 hours of sleep each school night, instead of the recommended 9.25 hours. That means most students face a 10-hour "sleep deficit" by the weekend.
Worst still: Sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday only makes matters worse, as it encourages kids' natural nocturnal ways when they're faced with 7:30 or 8 a.m. morning start times for schools. (Previously, NPR reported that letting teens sleep in could help them avoid morning car accidents.)
Of course, their parents are necessarily better off: A 12-state phone survey of roughly 75,000 people found that more than 33 percent of them had slept less than 7 hours the night, and 38 percent said they had fallen asleep without meaning to during at least one day in the previous month.
