Teen Sleep Cycles Affect School Success

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

While reading “Why School Should Start Later in the Morning” written by Emily Richmond, it is stated that, “We have to convince school systems this has to happen for the health of kids… it’s an absolute requirement.” With that being said, school board officials are not just changing the starting time to later at random, but more so to help improve students’ health all around. With not enough sleep students can become sleep deprived which can lead to many health issues. Students who do receive enough sleep will have improvement with the tendency of impulsive, on the scene decision making. Gonchar also states that “teens going through puberty have a late release of “sleep” hormone melatonin…” With the late release of the hormone melatonin, students going through the

Some people may ask, “Why don’t teenagers just go to bed earlier, instead of having school later?” This is a common concern for parents and teachers as well. The fact is, adolescents have different sleeping patterns than adults do. Throughout the day, teenagers are most tired during the morning, and most alert at night (Cerve 4). “The body’s internal clock shifts after puberty, making it

There are many learning benefits when students start school later. The research, conducted by a sleep expert with Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, R.I., found that a delay in school start time of only 30 minutes was associated with significant improvements in adolescent alertness, mood and health( 1 ). The more sleep we get we can learn more and it would be better. The more

Sleep is very important and everyone needs it in order to start the day. CDC reports that an eight thirty a.m. start time would let teenagers to get the recommended eight point five to nine point five hours of sleep a night. This is important because students probably go to sleep around ten o’clock, which means they only get eight hours of sleep. Teens are at a very important stage of their growth and development. Because of this they need more sleep than adults. This means that kids need more sleep if they want to grow and develop. In more than forty states, at least seventy five percent of public schools start earlier than 8:30 a.m., according to the CDC’s report. This is significant because it means that 25 percent do start after 8:30, but also 75 percent do not start after 8:30 which is not very good.Sleep experts have found a shift in sleep cycles beginning in adolescence that

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

Sleep is controlled by two body systems: sleep/wake homeostasis and the circadian biological clock. Alterations to this circadian biological rhythm occur during adolescence, when teens undergo a slumber phase delay. This shift in teens’ circadian rhythm causes them to naturally feel more attentive later

Beep beep beep, alarm clocks are going off at 5 in the morning for students to start getting ready for the day. With waking up so early teenagers are not getting the sleep they need to get them through the day. So many factors can affect the sleep of a high schooler. Schools should start later in the day so students have enough time to sleep and extracurricular activities they are involved in. Many people believe that school start times should stay where they are because you have more time afterwards to still do your activities and homework. Sleep is important in everyday life. It helps you stay awake during the day. It is a different cost going into changing school times With pushing back the hours students will still have

Early school start times can lead to stress, causing health problems. “"What we're worried about is when you really start to look at the stress, it leads to things like depression,” (“Western Pennsylvania”). Depression is not the only mental illness caused by stress. Anxiety, social anxiety, and anger issues can also be stress induced. Later or delayed school start times can help with improvement in physical and mental health. “Pediatricians in the United States are urging secondary and middle schools to delay start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to give teens more time to sleep, in order to improve mental and physical health and academic performance,” (“American pediatricians”). More sleep during the hours before school starts can cause students to develop less mental health problems. “Young people who get more sleep see benefits in terms of mood stabilization, improvement in overall mood, a better sense of self, and feeling more capable of

Early start times negatively affect teens in many different aspects. Many people say school starting early has worked fine in the past years, we have learned to adjust to it. Change will be hard, why change school times now? Yes, this is true, it will be a change, but it is a change worth it in the long run. Although we have adjusted to early school start times, it does not mean the current schedule is best for teens. School can begin simply too early considering most teens don’t get the opportunity to fulfill their sleep needs. This is often caused by homework, a busy social life, extracurricular activities, and family all combined. Sleep is well needed, but the necessary sleep amount is lost with early start times. Additionally, current school schedules are not benefiting teens; it comes with discouraging effects, there is evidence to support this. The National Sleep

As a result, many teachers have a excellent explanation for not changing school start times, but they will need to know what the pediatrics need to say. By changing start times to a later time, teenagers could have a healthy life, and could get a better score on tests. “There's a price to pay” says Dr. Judith Owens, which studies have shown that lack of sleep in teenagers the risk of traffic accidents and makes them more vulnerable to depression and

The national sleep epidemic that has taken the world by storm is also taking a toll in not only teen’s health but also their performance in school as well as personal safety. The sleep deprivation that teens are experiencing everyday has caused many health problems as well as academic problems. I believe starting school later will hinder this ever growing teen sleep deprivation problem we face today. Letting teens sleep later is beneficial to their learning capacity as their heightened alertness improved their classroom performance as well as better memory and many other crucial achievements. So probably starting school later, but no later than eight thirty am, will lead students to perform better in school and their health will improve drastically.

Do you ever wake up and feel like you haven’t gotten enough sleep? The reason is because in reality you probably haven’t. Studies show that schools should not start any earlier that 8:30 in the morning due to teens suffering from sleep deprivation. There are many negative effects this condition can have on a teens body including a direct effect on one’s physical and mental health, public safety and excelling in the future. In the Ted Talk video, " Why school should start later for teens" by, Wendy Troxel.  Ms. Troxel explained why school should start later for teens.. Students are very drowsy in the morning and are usually rushing to get to school on time which limits breakfasts times and healthy food options. Schools should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.  for several reasons  but sleep deprivation is  the most important. Sleep deprivation can cause a direct effect to a child’s general health and behavior, public safety and potentially future success.

It is often said that the early bird gets the worm, but that is not the case for school start times. Many schools across the country have adolescents wake up in the wee hours of the morning to get ready and go to school. Evidence from complete studies suggests that teenagers are seriously sleep deprived. Waking up so early is not always beneficial, although some people do believe that it is efficient. School start times should be later because it improves adolescents’ health and academic performance, and it can increase the safety of the community.

To this point, the emphasis of the paper has been the social issue of sleep deprivation in adolescents and the relationship that school start times have with the issue. The focus now shifts to the evaluation on school start times and the associated policies in Fairfax County schools.