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Deep sleep is very important during puberty
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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One of the most important factors in the puberty process is deep sleep, so it is important that teenagers get enough sleep, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).
Puberty is the age when a person becomes an adult and is capable of procreation. This process is different for each person. Puberty is influenced by various factors: environment, genetic inheritance, taste preferences, social influence, and, of course, sleep.
The onset of puberty in girls begins at the age of 8-13 years, in boys a little later – at 9-14 years.
The changes that teenagers undergo during this period are caused by processes occurring in the brain. As it turns out, during sleep, those parts of the brain that are responsible for the management and development of these processes are actively working.
As we know, sleep is divided into two phases - fast and slow. Slow (deep) sleep is the phase when we are "visited" by dreams that are less connected and vivid than during fast sleep.
"If the parts of the brain that activate the reproductive system depend on deep sleep, then we need to worry that sleep deprivation or sleep disturbances in children and adolescents may interfere with normal puberty. This is especially true for children who have been diagnosed with a sleep disorder. Recent research suggests that most adolescents sleep far less than their bodies need to function and develop normally," said Natalie Shaw, MD, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital and lead author of the study.
The experts analyzed the secretion of luteinizing hormone (which is crucial in the production of testosterone in men and in the process of ovulation in girls), as well as its dependence on the stages of sleep in children aged 9 to 15 years.
It turned out that the synthesis of the largest amount of hormones occurs during the deep sleep phase.
This gives reason to believe that deep sleep has a direct influence on the process of puberty in adolescents.
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