Don’t feel guilty for enforcing your child’s bedtime. Teens with parental-mandated early bedtimes are less likely to battle depression or have suicidal thoughts compared to their peers who stay up much later, according to a recent study.

Researchers drew this conclusion from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Out of 15,000 adolescents, 1,143 were depressed and 2,038 had suicidal thoughts. When researchers compared the teens who went to bed at midnight or later to the teens who went to bed at 10 P.M. or sooner, they found that those early-to-bed children were 25 percent less likely to be depressed and 20 percent less likely to have suicidal thoughts.

Jonathan Pletcher, MD, a specialist in adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, explained that teens who get less sleep may be impulsive and have more anxiety and difficulties learning. He added that a lack of sleep is also associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

How much sleep should your teen get? Nine hours, according to James Gangwisch, MD, the study’s author.