My teen is addicted to sleep

[Anonymous]

I have an only child who is 14. He craves sleep and seems to sleep a lot. His doctor said to let him sleep as it fuels growth and he is pretty small. I remember sleeping a lot too when I was his age. If I let him, he would probably come home from school everyday and go to sleep. He doesn’t do many after school activities because he has ADHD and has to get his homework done before his meds wear off. How much does your teenager sleep? Do they seem to crave it? He goes to bed at 10pm and wakes up at 6am. He says he can’t fall asleep right away so he probably doesn’t get 8 hrs of sleep.

[Anonymous]

Most humans are addicted to sleep.

He sleeps 10-6 and craves more. Seems normal.

Is he sleeping at other times too?

[Anonymous]

I remember napping on the bus at that age, and probably slept 930-6 plus an hour of napping.

[Anonymous]

The crash from the ADHD medicine may be causing him to want to sleep in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Well, my 13 year old sleeps 9:30 to 6:30, so it seems reasonable that your son needs more sleep! That would certainly feel like craving or addiction . I crave sleep and love sleep. I’m perfectly healthy - probably more healthy because I actually get the sleep I crave! Let him sleep.

[Anonymous]

Look up the connection between narcolepsy and adhd.

[Anonymous]

Sleeping 10-6 isnt "addicted" to sleep. Your kid is tired so let him sleep

What am I missing. Why are you against letting him sleep more?

Is he anemic? Growth spurt? Overweight (sleep apnea)?
These can exacerbate tiredness

[Anonymous]

What I mean is that in addition to his nighttime sleeping, he could come home and take a 4+ hr nap probably every day. I know he is growing a lot but so are other teenagers. How can they go from 6am until midnight or later? He isn’t overweight and doesn’t have narcolepsy. Every single teen I know does multiple activities after school and on weekends and I am just wondering how they do it. I love sleeping too especially at this time of the year when it is dark and cold.

[Anonymous]

But DOES he nap?

[Anonymous]

Sleep is vital to development. Let him sleep.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know a single teenager staying up til midnight and waking up at 6 every day.

Your view on sleep is disordered. Even if he was sleeping 7-6 every night it wouldn’t be abnormal. Let the kid SLEEP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know a single teenager staying up til midnight and waking up at 6 every day.

Your view on sleep is disordered. Even if he was sleeping 7-6 every night it wouldn’t be abnormal. Let the kid SLEEP!

Most of his friends and my friends with teenagers play multiple sports and are involved in activities every day and on weekends and take honors and AP courses. He used to row in middle school but gave it up. His friends who still row get home at 7 or later everyday and then tackle the homework. The doctor said to aim for 9 hours of sleep and he gets 8 or so at night. I just don’t know anyone whose teen could then come home and take a 4+ hour nap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But DOES he nap?

Yes he does. He is still asleep now. We got home early today at 5pm and he went straight to sleep. I remember doing this myself on Friday nights because I didn’t have any homework but he could easily do this every day after school.

[Anonymous]

Has he ever had a sleep study? He could have apnea and legitimately be that exhausted, yes.

[Anonymous]

I used to come home and sleep everyday after school when I was in Highschool. Let him take a nap!