Teens are well-known for their night owl tendencies and ability to snooze until the early afternoon the following day.

And interestingly, it turns out they most likely can’t help burning the midnight oil.

Dr Sophie Bostock, a sleep expert working with Bensons for Beds, said: “During adolescence, studies have shown that the timing of teens’ body clocks can become delayed by an average of two hours, making teens sleepy later in the day, and making it harder to wake up in the morning.”

Huh!

Why does this happen?

As children get older, the timing of melatonin release (a signal to the body and brain to prepare for sleep) “gets gradually later”, said the expert.

For children under 10, melatonin is released before 8pm, whereas for teenagers, melatonin onset can be more than two hours later, at around 10:30-11pm.

“From around age 9, there is a faster transition towards a night owl preference, partly due to the onset of more hormones,” Dr Bostock said.

“This peaks between ages 15 to 17, which is typically when we can expect to see the greatest difficulty falling asleep early, and waking up early. For boys,........

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