Short Sleep Duration Among Middle School and High School Students — United States, 2015

Abstract

Insufficient sleep among children and adolescents is associated with increased risk for obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health, attention and behavior problems, and poor academic performance (1-4). The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended that, for optimal health, children aged 6-12 years should regularly sleep 9-12 hours per 24 hours and teens aged 13-18 years should sleep 8-10 hours per 24 hours (1). CDC analyzed data from the 2015 national, state, and large urban school district Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBSs) to determine the prevalence of short sleep duration (<9 hours for children aged 6-12 years and <8 hours for teens aged 13-18 years) on school nights among middle school and high school students in the United States. In nine states that conducted the middle school YRBS and included a question about sleep duration in their questionnaire, the prevalence of short sleep duration among middle school students was 57.8%, with state-level estimates ranging from 50.2% (New Mexico) to 64.7% (Kentucky). The prevalence of short sleep duration among high school students in the national YRBS was 72.7%. State-level estimates of short sleep duration for the 30 states that conducted the high school YRBS and included a question about sleep duration in their questionnaire ranged from 61.8% (South Dakota) to 82.5% (West Virginia). The large percentage of middle school and high school students who do not get enough sleep on school nights suggests a need for promoting sleep health in schools and at home and delaying school start times to permit students adequate time for sleep. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System was designed to estimate the prevalence of health risk behaviors among students that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability in the United States at the national, state, territorial, tribal, and large urban school district levels.* Students complete * https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/overview.htm. an anonymous, voluntary, school-based paper-and-pencil questionnaire during a regular class period after the school obtains parental permission according to local procedures. The national high school YRBS is conducted by CDC. It uses a three-stage cluster sample design to obtain a nationally representative sample of students in public and private schools in grades 9-12 (5). In 2015, the student sample size was 15,624. † The school and student response rates were 69% and 86%, respectively, resulting in an overall response rate of 60%. § State and large urban school district high school and middle school surveys are conducted by health and education † https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2015/ss6506_updated.pdf. § Overall response rate = school response rate x student response rate ([number of participating schools/number of eligible sampled schools] x [number of usable questionnaires/number of eligible students sampled]).