Emily Leiker
November 12th, 2017
3rd Period
Should Schools Have Later Start Times? The alarm beeps again sounding like a fire alarm going off. School starts before 8am. Using your fingers to hold open your eyes and dragging your feet, you get in the car and drive yourself to school. Will you even be able to make it through your day? School days for teens start to early. Teens aren't getting the sleep recommended for a healthy start to their day. Later start times for middle and high schools are proven to benefit both students and teachers.
Later school start times are scientifically proven to help teens in many beneficial ways. Teenagers and adolescents have sleep patterns. According to the article,¨ Teens and Sleep¨ Teens bodies naturally
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According to the National Sleep Foundation, biological sleep patterns change throughout the stages of adolescence. ¨Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence-meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00pm.¨ (¨Teens and Sleep¨). Messing with these sleep cycles in the long run and lead to sleep disorders. Research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests teenagers 13-18 years old should regularly sleep 8-10 hours each night for a healthy sleep. The teens who do not get a good amount of sleep are more likely to suffer from mental conditions, smoking, illicit drugs, and alcohol use. ¨Not getting enough sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks including being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs, as well as poor academic performance.¨ (¨Schools Start Too Early¨). On an NBC news story, Hilton Head Island High School moved its start time and benefits were noticeable. Students had higher test score averages and grades improved throughout the school.A study done in 2008 published in the journal of clinical sleep, found car accident rates fell by 16.5% when students were more aware on the road, not having to wake up before 7 am.
The importance of sleep is often an oversight for adolescents, whose busy lives can lead to sleepless nights. “Sleep is extremely important at the high school level because students are often involved in activities after school, followed by family time and then homework,” said district nurse Adeline Bryant. “Without adequate sleep, stress levels can increase and studies often slip. I advocate for 8 to 9 hours of sleep night for high-school students.”
In this article Amanda MacMillan says that "Middle and high school should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)." MacMillan explains that the AASM recommends that teenagers should sleep 8 to 10 hours a night. But according to the CDC, "almost 70% of high-school students report sleeping 7 hours or less on a regular basis." MacMillan names a few of the serious consequences that can teens can have if they don't get the recommended amount of sleep like depressive symptoms, obesity, risk taking behaviors and athletic injuries. She says that as children go through puberty, their brains start producing melatonin on a delayed schedule, making it hard of them to feel tired before 11 p.m. MacMillan states
This leaves students with less than the recommended 9 hours of sleep. Students that have to stay up that late for homework will be tired in the morning, even if their school starts later. Many people argue that starting schools later will let students get more sleep and align with the students sleep cycles. But they do not factor in that students will just stay up later at night because they know that they do not have to get up as early in the morning. This will just leave students with less sleep than before.
Researchers have proven that teenager’s brains don’t start working until ten in the morning, also that an average teenager is supposed to get eight to nine hours of sleep each night. These are a few reasons that school starting times are negatively affecting students learning abilities at school. I believe that schools should have later starting times. An average teenager is supposed to get eight to nine hours of sleep each night, however in reality most teens only get about seven hours. A lack of sleep is causing students to do worse on homework and tests. Our school starts at seven twenty-five, if it started two hours later, then students would be getting the exact amount of sleep that they need each night. A study shows that the brain doesn’t
Teenagers need more sleep to go throughout the day. It has been proven multiple times that teenagers do not tend to wake up early and go to sleep later. In the article Should School Stay Early it says “They have a biological tendency to
“Sleep deprivation is epidemic among adolescents, with potentially serious impacts on mental and physical health, safety, and learning. Most teenagers undergo a biological shift to a later sleep-wake up cycle, which can make early school start times particularly challenging.” says Boergers.
Teens are recommended to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night to be able to function to the best of their ability. A study found that only 15% of teens receive 8.5 hours on school night. According to the CDC, “Five out of six middle and high schools in the United States start the school day too early.” Most high schools start before 8:30 A.M. High schools starting too early in the morning can cause high school students to not get their necessary amount of sleep. Lack of sleep can cause harmful health effects. Not getting enough sleep can cause behavior effects such as aggressiveness and impulsivity. Not getting enough sleep can also cause you to overeat, which can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Changing the start time of high schools can assure high school students with their appropriate amount of
Based on the article on The National Sleep Foundation, when it's time for school the average teen body still thinks it's the middle of the night.
A normal school day begins between 7:00 and 8:00 (Canapari). A typical wake time for students is 6 A.M. (Canapari). An average teen goes to bed between 10 and 11 (Canapari). This means that an average teen gets on average seven to eight hours of sleep when they need on average 9 ¼ hours of sleep as stated in the above paragraph. One man, Matt Gaetz stated, “The evidence is pretty one sided that high school students don’t have the same cognitive function that they have at eight or nine in the morning.” (Beaton). There are many pros to beginning the school day later. One pro is the reduced risk of teen crashes. The later start time would allow teens to be more alert while driving to school (Pro...
Lack of sleep of teens is not caused by choice. Many teens do not choose to stay up late at night because they are out or having fun. The body has circadian rhythms. “These rhythms are generated internally and develop without any social or environmental cues. Adolescents experience a natural circadian phase delay and, therefore, tend to stay up later and sleep in later than in preadolescents” (Final Report Summary, 2001). The opening and closing schedules of schools are not based on these rhythms but are based on the business world and what is best for it. “School schedules should be adapted to the unique needs of different sub-populations of pupils. The administrator must not bear the sole responsibility for planning class schedules” (...
Should school start later?’’School should start later so adults and students can be healthier.’’School starting later will allow more sleep and preparedness.
When children make the transition from primary school to middle school or high school, it affects them a lot when the changing of their own sleep cycle affects the way they actually learn. Dr. Judith Owens, who is the director of the Sleep Medicine Clinic at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., says "adolescents are programmed to fall asleep later,” (2013). She wants to change school start times to later because "we are asking [teens] to be awake and alert at the time in their 24-hour clock when their alertness level is at its very lowest,” (2013). She also says that most teens can’t usually fall asleep until 11 p.m. Sleep expert Amy Wolfson of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., says that children should try to get eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep a night. Waking up at six a.m. leads to bad sleep patterns creating sleep deprivation.
Don't you hate waking up early for school in the morning? Most high school students wake up before the sun rises just to become ready for school. Teenage brains do not begin to function that early considering many are tired from staying up late the previous night. The National Sleep Foundation reported that most teens do not retain enough shuteye, one study found that only 15% reported sleeping eight 1/2 hours on school nights. That fact was extremely true for me when I attended high school. I barely was able to wake up, get dressed, and be in school on time since I was so tired. In my opinion school days should start later, precisely in between 9- 10 o'clock. If the school day started later attendance would improve, students will be more prepared, and student's attitudes and grades may improve.
Should school start at 7:00 or should it start later in the morning? In Douglas High School, start times are at 7:30 in the morning. Changing the school schedule to a later start time would result in many other changes affecting a lot of people. According to the Sleep Foundation, "The change will affect the entire community, from students and parents to businesses, libraries, police, youth sports clubs, bus drivers and many others." Altering the school schedule would influence numerous aspects of people’s lives. Highly coordinated routines would have to be changed and adapted to the new schedule. A later release time would take time off of students’ free time in the afternoon. Clubs, sports, jobs, and other after-school activities would have
Later school start-times help teens get more sleep as well as helping them focus for the day. Judith Owens, author of the AAP policy statement further supports this idea when she states “Chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common - and easily fixable - public health issues in the U.S. today… The CDC states that “adolescents who don’t get enough sleep have an