Why School Should Start Later

It is a well known fact that teenagers in general need more sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation: “[teenage sleep] is as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage stress of being a teen.” When schools start as early as 7 o’clock, it puts students health at risk. Adolescents already have a natural shift in their internal body clock, or circadian rhythm when it comes to sleep. Puberty allows this to happen, causing a “sleep phase delay” of about two hours. When teens can't fall asleep until late and school starts so early, they aren't getting nearly enough sleep. Lack of such, according to CDC, makes the individual

The drowsiness of adolescents contributes to over 100,000 crashes per year. Students being drowsy is from being sleep deprived from the early school start times and that is one of the reasons why they get no sleep. Schools shouldn’t be starting early in the morning because it affects adolescents mental and physical health, their academic performance and it doesn’t let them get the recommended amount of sleep.

One of these benefits is that the students and the teachers would both obtain added sleep, therefore; their health would increase. The recommended hours of sleep a night for teens is over nine hours and an abundance of teens do not reach this number due to late nights and early mornings (Boergers, 1). If students received the recommended hours of sleep per night, their health would increase greatly. An immense health benefit of getting enough sleep per night is that it lowers depression (Boergers, 2). Some health risks that accompany not receiving enough sleep are obesity, drinking problems, tobacco smoking, and use of drugs (Viadero, 5). Sleep deprivation can also cause anxiety and depression. Therefore, if schools started later, students would, overall, be healthier. Another pro to arriving at school later would be the

Delaying the time that school starts could affect the amount of sleep that students receive. An average teen is supposed to obtain 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep each night. There is a national debate of whether or not to start school at a later time. Students, Parents, teachers, and even bus drivers all need their sleep. Why not start school earlier if teens are struggling to get to bed from after school

With a later school start students would not be as sleep deprived.Doctors recommend that teens get 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night. With teens getting 8 to 9 hours of sleep would also make it better for students getting to school.This would be beneficial to teen drivers.

As children’s doctor and sleep expert Daniel Lewin stated, “The call for later school start times is an essential movement for keeping tweens and teens healthy.” Several reasons why school hours are unjust due to early start times include first, students not being able to focus as easily in class. Next, students also cannot participate to their full capability when their mind and body are not rested properly. Also, recent studies have concluded that teenagers cause more automobile accidents on their way to school, due to being sleep deprived. A negative perspective considering a later school start revolves around the idea that through history school hours have consistently ended before a specific time. This seems to support the fact that “after school

Since teens get less sleep than they need, they are more tired at school which causes them to not pay attention in class. Next, teens melatonin levels rise later making them tired later on. For example, at night teens melatonin level rises which cause them to be tired later and stay up later. Since teens stay up late, it causes them to be tired the next school day. Last, when teens get more sleep, the crash

Have you ever had to go to sleep early because you had something important the next day and you needed a good night's sleep? Schools are starting later and later as researchers are saying that kids perform better when they get more sleep. There a a lot of reasons to support this, one is that it has been proven that kids do better on tests and quizzes following a good night’s sleep. School starting later could help with child obesity. It has been proven that when school starts later that there is improved attendance, graduation rates, and reduced car crash rates. School starting later would benefit the teachers and staff as well. The graduation rate alone is one very good reason for school to start later. School should start at at least 9:00.

The CDC press release reported fewer “than 1 in 5 middle and high schools in the U.S. began the school day at the recommended 8:30 AM start time or later” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1). Anne Wheaton an epidemiologist in the CDC’s division of Population Health explained that getting enough sleep is important for students “health safety, and academic performance“ however “Early school start times are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need” (1). The American Medical Association issued a 2016 policy statement supporting delayed school start times to improve adolescent wellness. Specifically the new policy calls on “school districts across the United States to implement middle and high school start times no earlier than 8:30 a.m.” (American Medical Association 1). As with the other health organizations the AMA mentioned health concerns as a primary reason for recommending later school start times. “Sleep deprivation is a growing public health issue affecting our nation’s adolescents, putting them at risk for mental, physical and emotional distress and disorders” (1). The AMA believes delaying school

Getting up out of bed in the morning can be a struggle for teenagers, especially those who did not get enough sleep that night. Once they are up the teenagers drag their feet to get ready for school because they are tired. The teenagers old enough to drive are the ones most at risk because they drive half asleep to school, which greatly increases their already high chances of crashing. Studies say, “In the United States, the fatal crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 year-olds is nearly 3 times the rate for drivers ages 20 and over. Risk is highest at ages 16-17. In fact, the fatal crash rate per mile driven is nearly twice as high for 16-17 year-olds as it is for 18-19 year-olds” (Teenagers). Higher statistics would be possible if the study was focused on only teenagers who drive to school tired. Students chances of getting in a crash would skyrocket. Studies also say “teen drivers who start class earlier in the morning are involved in significantly more motor vehicle accidents than peers with a later high school start time (Teens). The opposing side may say that school needs to start on time because that is when the bus needs to pick the students up or that teens should not go unsupervised. Driving tired is not the only safety concern regarding their child or children. What the other side does not realize is that not only can later school start times solve the issue of hazardous driving, but later start times can also

School districts expect us to wake up half an hour after the crack of dawn, go to school and while groggy and sleep deprived, and still expect us to surrender our full attention in each and every one of our 6 periods. Sending sleep-deprived teenagers to school as early as 5:30 is dangerously unhealthy, unsafe, and evidently counterproductive. According to the American Academy ofPediatrics, without receiving the appropriate amount of sleep teenagers find it 60% harder to focus in class. Lack of sleep can lead to excessive fatigue, emotional distress, laziness, obesity and a lowered perception of quality of

Being sleep deprived can affect one’s mood, decision making, and more. Depression can be a result of sleep deprivation, and sleep deprivation can be a result of depression, turning it into an almost endless cycle (Teens and Sleep 4). “When we are sleep deprived, our focus, attention, and vigilance drift, making it more difficult to receive information” (Sleep, Learning, and Memory). The whole point of school is to learn, so why have to go if learning is limited? Sleep deprivation can also cause irritability and aggressive behavior (Teens and Sleep 2).

Many high school students wander into school each day shuffling around and trying not to pass out in their classes. In order to cut back on sleep-deprived teens, we must follow through with this solution; it would give students enough time to go to bed early and wake up at an appropriate time. According to Sleep Foundation, teenagers require eight to ten hours of sleep and are not getting that with the current schedule. Many teenagers have discombobulated biological clocks and need the opportunity to adjust their sleeping schedule as they see fit. If this plan were to be put into practice, more positive attitudes would emerge from schools all over America due to their fulfilled need of sleep, which would give teachers, students, principals, counselors, and even parents a more productive start to each day. On the other hand, I realize that the opposing side of this intelligent solution may proclaim that some teenagers would abuse this and go to bed even later, but people must also realize that a large amount of teenagers who wish to succeed academically would gladly not abuse this and respect this privilege; although there would be some teenagers to mistreat this, it is up to the maturity level of the student, and they choose whether they want to succeed or

With early school start times, students tend not to have enough sleep. National Sleep Foundation and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend an eight to ten-hour sleep, which is sufficient. However, 69 percent of the students in the United States sleep less than eight hours per night, which is insufficient. It affects students negatively through health, behaviors, and grades. The lack of sleep promotes students to become sleepy, defenseless, and lead to the inability to concentrate, which may cause injuries and lack of knowledge in school. This dilemma has been around for years and years in the United States. Schools should start later to avoid this dilemma because it provides students with more time to sleep and an efficient work-and-rest

Teens are so full of potential, so full of life, and so…..sleepy. Research shows that teens do not get the sleep they need on a regular basis. Because of the shift in body clocks, after puberty, it takes longer for teens to go to sleep. This resulting sleep deprivation can produce mood swings, substance abuse such as NyQuil, and immune disorders, as well as busy schedules, exams, and active social lives on top of all this an earlier high school starting times this makes teens suffer from sleep deprivation as well as other health and academic problems (Cline). Teens suffering from fatigue often can’t pay attention