A new exchange in the letters section of JAMA highlights both alarming trends in adolescent sleep and important methodological considerations for interpreting Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data.
In March 2026, researchers Tanner Bommersbach, Mark Olfson, and Taeho Greg Rhee published a Research Letter in JAMA examining sleep duration trends among U.S. high school students from 2007 to 2023. Using data from the biennial YRBS, they found that the proportion of adolescents reporting insufficient sleep had risen dramatically over the study period. By 2023, more than 50 percent of U.S. teenagers reported getting fewer than five hours of sleep per night, with increases observed across all demographic groups including sex, race, ethnicity, and grade level.
The broader trend was even more striking. Over the full 2007-2023 period, the prevalence of insufficient sleep (defined as less than 8 hours per night) rose from approximately 50 percent to roughly 77 percent. The primary driver of this increase was not a gradual shift from adequate to moderately insufficient sleep, but rather a surge in very short sleep durations of five hours or less.
These findings are particularly concerning given the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s recommendation that adolescents aged 13 to 18 years should regularly sleep 8 to 10 hours per night for optimal health. Chronic sleep deprivation in teens has been linked to impaired cognitive performance, emotional dysregulation, increased risk of obesity, and higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation.
A Methodological Critique
Now, in a Comment and Response letter published June 24, 2026, Peter J.T. White, PhD, of Michigan State University’s Department of Entomology, raises an important methodological caveat. White notes that the 2023 YRBS substantially changed the wording of its screen-time question compared to prior survey waves. Because screen-based behaviors are closely tied to sleep patterns, this question change complicates the interpretation of sleep trends across survey years.
White’s letter is a methodological critique rather than an original study. His point is that when a survey instrument changes mid-trend, researchers and readers must exercise caution in attributing observed changes entirely to real-world shifts in behavior. Some portion of the apparent increase in very short sleep could reflect the changed context in which respondents answered related questions, rather than a pure signal of worsening sleep patterns.
The critique serves as a reminder that trend analyses depend heavily on instrument consistency. Even well-designed surveys like the YRBS occasionally update their questions to keep pace with evolving public health concerns, and those updates can introduce artifacts that must be carefully considered.
Keeping Perspective
Importantly, White’s critique does not invalidate the overall finding that adolescent sleep has declined. The upward trend in insufficient sleep was well established prior to the 2023 survey wave, with consistent increases documented across multiple cycles using the same instruments. The methodological concern pertains specifically to the magnitude of the most recent single-year change and the precision with which the current crisis can be quantified.
This exchange in JAMA’s letters section represents the normal workings of scientific discourse, where published findings are scrutinized, caveats are raised, and the collective understanding is refined over time. Both the original observation and the methodological caution are valuable, and together they paint a more complete picture of the adolescent sleep landscape.
As researchers continue to track this trend, future YRBS waves using consistent instrumentation will help clarify whether the 2023 data point represents a genuine acceleration of a troubling trend or reflects, in part, a measurement artifact. Either way, the underlying message remains clear: American teenagers are not getting the sleep they need.
Source: White PJT. Insufficient Sleep Among US Adolescents. JAMA. Published online June 24, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.6653
Referenced study: Bommersbach TJ, Olfson M, Rhee TG. Insufficient Sleep Among US Adolescents, 2007-2023. JAMA. 2026;335(13):1173-1176. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.1417