Should High School Start Later Essay

839 Words2 Pages

Every morning is a constant struggle of either getting out of bed and getting ready for school or staying asleep and letting the blankets consume you in their warmth. For many teens, the later wins and they are left rushing to make it to school on time. I think that if Nebraska Public High Schools had a later start time such as 9:00am the students would be more likely to be on time to school, they would be more alert in class, and they would have better test scores and grades. First of all, it is important to know how much sleep students really need. According to the National Sleep Foundation “Teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep each night to function best.” However, one study found that 2/3 of the students reported sleeping less than seven hours a night. According to “Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours” this is most likely because teens internal sleep clock is set to fall asleep around 11:00pm, so even …show more content…

According to the National Sleep Foundation, 33% of high school students fall asleep during school. Most people claim that the students being tired is due to them simply staying up too late, but that is not always the case. The way that the school start times are set up, now it is nearly impossible to get the amount of sleep that students need to function. With the biological sleep clock of students having them fall asleep at 11:00pm and then having to be up at 6:00 in the morning to get ready, the ten-hour goal is unachievable.When students are sleep deprived their focus and attention drift more easily making it significantly harder to pay attention in class. The lack of sleep also impacts students memory, the brain has to work harder to be able to retrieve previously learned information (Sleep, Learning, and Memory). Students who have gotten a good night rest are proven to pay more attention in

Open Document