TempoLife › Open health data › average-bedtime
Typical bedtimes and wake times
When people actually go to bed and wake — and why teenagers run naturally later.
Illustrative reference range, rounded for general guidance — not a precise statistic or medical advice.
The numbers
| Group | Typical bedtime | Typical wake time |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (workday) | 22:30–23:30 | 06:30–07:30 |
| Adult (free day) | 23:00–00:30 | 08:00–09:30 |
| Teenager (school) | 23:00–00:00 | 06:30–07:00 (often too early) |
| Young child | 19:30–20:30 | 06:30–07:30 |
What it means
These are illustrative bands for when people tend to sleep, not survey averages for any one country. Bedtimes drift later on free days — the gap between your workday and weekend sleep timing is sometimes called social jet lag, and a large gap can leave you feeling groggy on Monday.
Teenagers are a special case. During puberty the internal body clock shifts later by an hour or two, so a teen who cannot fall asleep before 23:00 is usually not being difficult — their biology genuinely runs late, which clashes with early school starts.
Whatever your natural timing, a consistent schedule and winding down without bright screens for the last hour tend to help far more than any single "correct" bedtime.
More open data
How much sleep people need by age
Consensus sleep-duration ranges from newborns to older adults — most adults land at 7–9 hours.
Average daily step counts
What counts as sedentary, active and highly active — and why 10,000 steps is a target, not a medical threshold.
Healthy weight range by height
The weight band for a healthy BMI (18.5–24.9) at each height — more useful than a single "average" weight.
Resting heart rate by fitness
The normal adult range is 60–100 beats per minute; fitter hearts tend to beat slower at rest.
Average adult height
Typical adult-height bands by sex, and why a global "average" is only a rough guide.
Source: Illustrative bedtime and wake-time bands based on chronobiology of typical schedules; not national survey averages. · checked 2026-09-04
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to go to bed?
There is no single best time. Pick a bedtime that lets you get the sleep your age needs before you must wake, and keep it consistent day to day.
Why do teenagers stay up late?
Puberty shifts the body clock later by an hour or two, so teens naturally feel sleepy later and struggle with early wake times. It is biology, not just habit.
Track your own numbers
TempoLife logs your sleep, steps, weight and heart rate and shows your trend against these ranges.