The 24 Hours
You can drive at eighteen. But you still need your sleep. Protect it before you set off.
7 am, outside the school. But for many teenagers, the body still thinks it's night. In the teenage years, the body clock shifts later. You fall asleep later, and waking up gets harder. At eighteen, you're old enough to drive. But at 7 am, you may not be fully alert yet. It's not laziness. It's the natural rhythm of a body that is changing. And when that body gets behind the wheel, sleepiness is everyone's business.
0:00In front of the school
0:08The shifted clock
0:16At seven
0:25Not laziness
0:32Behind the wheel
0:39The messageDetails 53 s · 9:16 · four languages · generated images, voice and music, declared as such · 2026-09-08 · Drive Awake
First of all, believe it: the delay belongs to the body, not to character. Natural light in the morning moves the clock earlier, and even more in people with late rhythms (Wright 2013). Screens off an hour before sleep let melatonin start (Chang 2015). At the weekend, waking no more than two hours later than usual avoids Monday's jet lag.
It's 7 am, outside the school. But for many teenagers, the body still thinks it's night.
School starts while a teenager's body clock is still in its night. It is not a matter of will: it is the body's rhythm at that age.
Watch this passage (0:00) →During the teenage years, the body clock shifts later. You fall asleep later, and waking up gets harder.
The clock shifts later for biological reasons, not because of bad habits. The delay grows with puberty and peaks around 19-20, earlier in girls than in boys: a habit would not have such a precise, sex-specific peak. In the diaries of over 50,000 people, at 17-18 the midpoint of sleep on free days falls around 4:30; between 25 and 65 it lies between 4 and 3 (Fischer 2017).
Fischer 2017 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0178782
Watch this passage (0:08) →
Those who have just got their licence set off at exactly that hour, not yet fully alert.
Two mechanisms add up: evening melatonin starts later, and sleep pressure builds more slowly, so in the evening you stay awake longer and in the morning the body is still in its night. In mature adolescents sleep pressure rises with a time constant of 15.4 hours, against 8.9 in children before puberty (Jenni 2005). At 7, for an eighteen-year-old, alertness is still close to its minimum.
Watch this passage (0:16) →
It's not laziness. It's the natural cycle of a changing body.
Screens in the evening, free weekend hours and caffeine amplify the delay, but do not cause it. After twenty, the delay reverses on its own, without anyone changing habits: Roenneberg proposes it as the first biological marker of the end of adolescence (Roenneberg 2004).
Watch this passage (0:25) →
And when that body gets behind the wheel, sleepiness becomes everyone's business.
A sleepy teenager in the morning is not a discipline problem. Understanding this changes how a family organises departures, sleep hours and who drives when.
Watch this passage (0:32) →The corrections made to this text, with their date, their reason and the lines they touched.
Thomas Ruckstuhl had not reported a sentence but a phrase: «protect your sleep» does not say what to do. It appeared in two English closing lines. In hour 07 George Zisa rewrote it naming the action: make sure you are rested before getting behind the wheel. In hour 08 the same closing line could not be repeated two episodes apart, so it now says not to shorten your sleep when you cannot shorten the drive. Searched through the whole text: none left.
Lines touched EN line 6
Revisions that concern the whole series are in the campaign diary →
The same lines you see in the video, side by side. This is where the gaps between languages show: a turn of phrase that does not hold, a word out of place, a figure that changes weight. If you find one, the button next to the line opens the report with hour, language and minute already filled in. All episodes on one page →
line 1 0:01
IT
Sono le sette, davanti a scuola. Ma per molti ragazzi, il corpo crede che sia ancora notte.
FR
Il est sept heures, devant l'école. Mais pour beaucoup de jeunes, le corps croit qu'il fait encore nuit.
DE
Es ist sieben Uhr, vor der Schule. Aber bei vielen Jugendlichen meint der Körper, es sei noch Nacht.
EN
It's 7 am, outside the school. But for many teenagers, the body still thinks it's night.
line 2 0:09
IT
Nell'adolescenza l'orologio biologico si sposta in avanti: ci si addormenta più tardi e svegliarsi è più difficile.
FR
À l'adolescence, l'horloge biologique se décale. On s'endort plus tard, et on a plus de peine à se réveiller.
DE
In der Pubertät geht die innere Uhr nach: Man schläft später ein und kommt morgens kaum aus dem Bett.
EN
During the teenage years, the body clock shifts later. You fall asleep later, and waking up gets harder.
line 3 0:17
IT
Chi ha appena preso la patente esce di casa proprio a quell'ora, con l'attenzione non ancora tutta sveglia.
FR
Ceux qui viennent d'avoir le permis partent justement à cette heure-là, l'attention pas encore réveillée.
DE
Wer den Führerausweis frisch in der Tasche hat, fährt genau um diese Zeit los, mit noch nicht ganz wachem Kopf.
EN
Those who have just got their licence set off at exactly that hour, not yet fully alert.
line 4 0:26
IT
Non è pigrizia. È il ritmo naturale di un corpo che sta cambiando.
FR
Ce n'est pas de la paresse. C'est le rythme naturel d'un corps qui change.
DE
Das ist keine Faulheit. Es ist der natürliche Rhythmus eines Körpers, der sich verändert.
EN
It's not laziness. It's the natural cycle of a changing body.
line 5 0:33
IT
E quando quel corpo si mette al volante, la sonnolenza riguarda tutti.
FR
Et quand ce corps prend le volant, la somnolence concerne tout le monde.
DE
Und wenn sich dieser Körper ans Steuer setzt, geht die Schläfrigkeit alle an.
EN
And when that body gets behind the wheel, sleepiness becomes everyone's business.
line 6 0:40
IT
A diciotto anni puoi guidare. Ma hai ancora bisogno di dormire. Proteggi il sonno prima di partire.
FR
À dix-huit ans, tu peux conduire. Mais tu as encore besoin de dormir. Protège ton sommeil avant de partir.
DE
Mit achtzehn darfst du fahren. Schlaf brauchst du trotzdem. Nimm ihn ernst, bevor du losfährst.
EN
You can drive at eighteen. But you still need your sleep. Protect it before you set off.
A question about this hour · 07:00
If you are a new driver, what shapes your decisions in the morning before you get behind the wheel?
There is no right answer: we are interested in the experience of people who drive, including for work.
The conversations happen on our channels. When there is one about this hour, we will link to it here.
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This episode is online. If something feels off, a word, a figure, a detail in the image, tell us below: two lines are enough. We read everything, and every correction goes into the diary, with its date.
We read every message. If it becomes a correction, the text changes here on the site and goes into the episode's diary, with its date and its reason. Corrections already made →
2026-09-08 · Drive Awake
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