Generation Sleepless: Why Tweens and Teens Aren't Sleeping Enough and How We Can Help Them

An intimate look inside a silent epidemic that is harming teens and how parents can help them reclaim the restorative power of sleep

If you could protect your teen from unnecessary anxiety, depression, and chronic stress, and foster a greater sense of happiness and well-being in their life, wouldn’t you? In Generation Sleepless, the authors of the classic guide to helping babies and young children develop healthy sleep habits, The Happy Sleeper, uncover one of the greatest threats to teenagers’ physical and mental health: sleep deprivation. Caught in a perfect storm of omnipresent screens, academic overload, night owl biology, and early school start times, teens are operating in a constant state of sleep debt and "social jet lag" while struggling to meet the demands of adolescence.

     In this essential book, Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright draw on the latest scientific research to reveal that, at a critical phase of development, many teens need more sleep than their younger siblings, but they're getting drastically less. Generation Sleepless helps readers:

foster a teen's self-motivation for sleeping wellalter family practices around phones, social media, and screen timedraw on an understanding of teens' night owl tendencies to create smart sleep habitslay out steps for sleep-friendly schools and promoting systemic changes that help teens get the rest they need     This first-of-its-kind book is packed with clear and instantly usable advice for parents, and serves as an eye-opening call to action for teachers, principals, coaches, and policy makers.

About the Author

Heather Turgeon, MFT, and Julie Wright, MFT, are psychotherapists, sleep specialists, and the authors of the popular parenting books The Happy Sleeper and Now Say This. As founders of The Happy Sleeper, they offer online sleep classes and consultations that help families with babies, kids, and teens sleep well. Heather’s writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She lives in Los Angeles and has a (well-rested) tween and teen. Julie is the creator of one of LA’s best known parenting programs, The Wright Mommy and Me. She lives in New York City and has a young adult son.

Author Residence: Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY