Later School Times Across America school starts on average, at eight o’clock in the morning. When walking through school hallways full of kids on a typical school morning, one may see sleep deprived and tired students not looking forward to their early morning classes, waiting for the bell to ring to signal them to go to class. Students brains are not at their full potential at eight o’clock in the morning because the brain is not yet fully awake. Starting school at eight o’clock is too early for students’ minds. David A. Sousa confirms, “Teenagers are not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation affects their ability to store information, increases irritability, and leads to fatigue, which can cause accidents” (Sousa 117). Starting school …show more content…
Their health is affected because students may not be getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep also known as sleep deprivation can include: “weight gain and eating disorders and increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes; reduced immunity; depression; anxiety; substance abuse; mood swings; behavior problems; suicidal ideation; and potential impacts on brain development” (Why). The recommended amount of sleep for growing teens in middle and high school is eight to ten hours a night (MacMillan). The recommended amount of sleep for teenagers is difficult for many teens to achieve because of how early school starts and how late they get home from school related activities the night before. For example, if a student was in basketball they could have practice from after school to five or later, or they could have a game an hour away. After their practice or game they could have a lot of homework and need to study for a test they have the next day. Students then go to sleep late, still having to get up early the next morning and go to school to take that test. The amount of sleep also has to do with the way the teen brain works. Emily Richmond says, “Adolescents’ ‘internal clocks’—the circadian rhythms that control a human’s responses to stimuli and determine sleep patterns—operate differently than those of other age groups. It’s typically more difficult for adolescents to fall asleep earlier in the …show more content…
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
In the article, “Early school starts can turn teens into Zombies’”, Stephen Ornes emphasizes how schools that start early can deprive students’ health. One study shows that early school start times can disrupt the consistency o the body’s circadian clock, which can cause health problems such as depression and obesity. Another reason for sleep deprivation is that the body goes through changes that include their sleeping process. The hormone, melatonin, is secreted later in the night, which makes the circadian cycle shift in a later time. These aspects could lead to troublesome symptoms such as lack of attention on the road. However, there are solutions to this problem. Students intake stimulants
You're in bed, feeling serene, having the perfect nights' sleep of your life. You wish it could go on eternally. Suddenly ''BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!", your alarm clock goes off and you comprehend that it's time for school, sound familiar? The subject of start times of school has been a very popular topic. As many people already know, sleep is an exceedingly significant habit. As stated in the previous newscast, "Sleep physical, emotional, and mental health." Furthermore, students struggle with this habit.
As the sun is barely rising Victoria is already on the school bus going to Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson Arizona. Finally, by the time third period is practically over she begins to wake up and feel ready to learn, but the school day is already halfway at an end. Seventy percent of teens aren’t getting enough sleep and this could be contributing to why they can’t focus or retain information in their first classes like Victoria (O’Neill 1). Whether or not school should start later to fix this problem has become a large debate in today’s society. Later start times are beneficial for adolescents because it will decrease rates of sleep deprivation and fit their biological rhythm, as well as bring importance to the issue, even though
To conclude, we can see how not only does more sleep make us prepared and more focused for the school day, but how it also affects our positive sleeping patterns, our ability to learn, and the amount of stress that our bodies receive. We see how many liable resources were used to conclude that sleep truly is one of the most important factors in a student's everyday life and supports the idea that school should begin later for the most positive results. Starting school later will truly minimize bad sleep patterns and habits, increase the amount of learning and lastly, put less stress on our minds and
What do most kids in school struggle with? Grades of course, but so many students can hardly stay awake during school and this causes school to be so much more stressful and difficult. If students could get more sleep in the morning they could be so much more successful in school. Why is it that students don’t get enough sleep? It is because of how early the school bells are. If students could get at least an extra hour of sleep, they wouldn’t be as tired.
Later High school start times are also linked to teen car accident remarkably dropping. In the article, researchers found that a simple way to reduce car crashes was to “Start the High School Day later”, it was evaluated that in counties where school started early, there were more run-off the road crashes among teens. According to Palus, “They suspect that these might be directly due to sleep deprivation.This reveals that early school start times are a problem and school systems around the country should take a look at the data and consider whether they should delay them. The article also states that “researchers looked at two towns that were pretty much identical-except for the time that teens were expected to arrive at school. In one county,
In addition, one article states that “Regular and restful sleep is essential for good health, sleep helps you feel less stressed and helps you maintain a healthy diet. Students often have very stressful lives with activities such as going to class, working out, etc (“Despite”). Finally, the consequences of sleep deprivation in a student's teen years can be very serious. Teenagers spend most of the day in school, when they have to wake up for school so early, then be there all day, it can lead to them not getting enough healthy sleep. With this lack of sleep they are unable to get the most they can out of school. With little sleep students can not learn as much and could therefore not know important things necessary for life. Teenagers don’t get tired until about 11:00, so they don’t get enough sleep because school starts so early in the morning (“Effects”). Overall, many students do not get as much healthy sleep that they need. Without sleep, they can not learn as much as they could be with a good amount of
To gain the right amount of sleep would mean that a teenager would have to go to bed at 9:30 pm. In the words of the American sleep researcher, Mary Carskadon, “we are asking 16-year olds to go to bed before 10pm. Rare is a teenager that will keep such a schedule.” She also goes to mention that with all the after school activities, such as athletics, clubs, employment, that “the ability even to have merely ‘adequate’ rest is lost.” After a student goes many consecutive days without the right amount of sleep, it can easily trigger sleep deprivation. In effect, the student’s ability to be “alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information.” Losing these attributes in school can lower their decision making which can greatly affect their performance in “everything from academics to athletics.”
Research tells us that the natural tendency for teenagers is to stay up late at night and wake up later in the morning. Evidence suggests that teenagers are indeed seriously sleep deprived. A recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 60% of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, according to their parents, and 15% said they fell asleep at school during the year. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s “2002 Sleep in America” poll, 80% of respondents said high schools should start no earlier than 8:00 a.m. each day; nearly one-half of these respondents (47%) said start times should be between 8:00
Early school hours prevent many students from getting the doctor’s requirement of 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night. “The CDC’s recommendations come a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics urged schools to adjust start times so more kids would get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of nightly rest” (Emily Richmond). Because the typical sleep cycle for teens begins around 11 p.m., this causes many
Education is one of the most important things to be successful in life, but what if the time school starts is too early for students? The average start time for high school is eight in the morning, giving many students the issue of being too tired to function. The school start time should be pushed back for obvious reasons; school starting later can boost performance tremendously, safety risk would be reduced, and the overall health of the student would be greatly improved. Numerous students are attempting to be at the top of their class, but being tired could reduce their performance. Most students have their first class around eight in the morning while studies show that melatonin the chemical that allows people to sleep, can affect students until eight.
Many of high school students are tired of getting up early for school, and there are many reasons behind that. We, the students, feel that being tired slows down our learning process. If school were to start later, every student would get their desired sleep and be ready for the day ahead. Even when the students go to bed early, they’re still too tired, and it’s extremely difficult to learn anything at all, especially if you’re not in the most thrilling of classes. Hanover Research stated that students who get more sleep shown a significant rise from mood and alertness to fewer automobile accidents and engagement in high risk behavior.*
A recent study done by the National Sleep Foundation showed that only 15% of students get the necessary 8 ½ hours of sleep on school nights.Over the years, school’s starting times have been moved earlier in the day, which is affecting students and teachers’ performance . However, moving the times forward is a debated issue among the community. School start times should be moved forward to allow students more time to sleep. Delaying school start times can help students improve in their learning and performance, as well as, making the road safer for the new teen drivers and others on the road. Also, it can help improve the health of students and young teachers.
Starting the school day later can benefit the health and safety of many students. Eighty-five percent of teens do not receive the full amount of sleep that their body needs to function properly, resulting in numerous physical and mental health problems. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) states that the lack of needed sleep can result in depression, anxiety, stress, and even obesity. When teenagers wake up too early, their brains are just as asleep as their bodies. Research by the CDC and pediatricians suggests that starting school later will decrease the amount of teen car crashes since teens will be more aware with more sleep (Richmond). An abundance of teens rely on the use of caffeine or drugs to help them wake up which can be extremely
A study at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement showed that adolescents “internal clocks” or hormones that control the sleep schedule are released at different times of the day than those of other age groups. Thus, it is more difficult for a teen to go to bed early in the evening than an adult. In a study, Mary Carskadon, Brown University researcher, studied adolescent sleeping habits and found that 10th-graders who were making the switch to a 7:20 a.m. start time, about an hour earlier than their schedule as ninth-graders. Despite their new schedule, the students went to bed at about the same time as they did the year before: 10:40 p.m. on average. This results in only 5-6 hours of sleep (depending on the time it takes for the student to get ready and travel times), as opposed to the recommend 8.5-9.5. This lack of sleep can cause a decrease in average grades, higher rates of obesity, depression, motor-vehicle accidents among teens and an overall lower quality of life. This depicts the need for high schools to start later in the