To Sleep Again : School Start Times

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

For years and years there has been a lot of discussion about when a reasonable time for students to wake up and go to school should be. There are two main sides. One side believes that school should start later, and the other side believes that the school start times should not be changed. The average teenagers’ alarm for school goes off as early as 6:00 A.M. A little less than half of U.S. public schools start before 8:00 A.M. Studies show that over half of students are not getting 8 hours of sleep or more. That leads to the 33% of teenagers who are found asleep in the classroom (Owens).

Students need a good amount of sleep to be able to focus and get through the school day. Students ability to function during school is impacted by the quantity, regularity, and quality if their sleep (Wolfson 1). The quality of sleep is not only important for the students but it is also important for the teachers. The quality of sleep affects the way students and teachers act throughout the day. Daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality on school days in students and teachers may comprise school and work performance (De Souza 5). Since students and teachers stay up so late at night, they tend to be very tired during the day. It is important to get sleep but it is more important to get a good sleep. There is not really a point in sleeping or trying to get sleep when it is not a good sleep because no matter what students will be tired during the day. While the quality of sleep is important, so is the amount of sleep a student or teacher is getting on school nights.

When students do receive enough sleep they have enhanced performance physically, mentally and academically. A study from the NSF (national sleep foundation) found that students who had a school day starting 1 hour later

Due to lack of sleep, drowsy driving is common along with risky behaviors and poor attendance. Research shows that a positive outcome from later school start times is it can improve physical and mental health. Students are sleep deprived which increases the risk of driving accidents and dangerous decisions such as the use of drugs and alcohol (Reddy). This shows that the amount of sleep teenagers get can alter the way they behave and can even cause them to make poor choices. Also, “A study by an economist after 146,000 middle school students in North Carolina started school an hour later showed math and reading scores went up two to three percentile points. In addition, students watched TV 15 minutes less per day and spent 17 minutes more on homework per week. In 2011, a study of first- year cadets at the Air Force Academy showed a similar correlation. Freshman take the same courses, but those who began before 8 a.m. scored lower in all classes than whose who started an hour later” (Manning). This quote proves that when students start at a later time, they have more energy and score better on tests Also, children are spending more time on their school work which causes a decrease in the time spent watching TV. Since studies show an advancement in teenagers’ behavior and academic grades, schools should start the day later in the

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “8 out of 10 teens don’t get the 8 1/2 hours of sleep that they need” (Morin). One of the major causes of this is early school times. Since the establishment of public schools, children have been pulled out of bed early in order to get to school on time. “Almost 45 out of the 50 states in the U.S start school before 8:30 am”(Scholastic). Now, experts are beginning to question how early a child should start the day at school. Research shows that schools should start later in order for children to establish healthy habits. When kids have to get up early, it has a negative effect on kids’ behavior and attitude. Also, if kids get up later it is a cost efficient way for schools to improve grades and attendance. A closer look at the evidence shows that schools need to start later in order to help children become more successful not only in school, but to improve their lives as a whole.

On average in today’s society most teens don’t like going to school that early in the morning. To have to wake up so early when they only get about seven hours of sleep, to have students be coming into school at 7:30AM or maybe even earlier in some other schools, is not right. Students need to have time at night to get work done, not only schoolwork but also non-schoolwork. Needless to say, the school schedule for high school students needs to be changed and be made where they go in later. That way they get their work done and get enough sleep because without much sleep students will not be getting high grades. A health survey that the University Health Center administered showed them that one in four students say that lack of sleep has

Having school start at early hours in the morning forces teens to wake up often hours before the recommended nine hours for adolescents. Not enough sleep causes extended drowsiness, denying students the chance to fully focus during classes. Without a proper night’s sleep, morning classes could often be faced with drowsiness, taking away students focus in class, and impairing their learning abilities. Without complete focus in the classroom, information being teached to students is lost; without full knowledge and understanding of the material, students perform poorly on graded assignments, quizzes, and tests. Drowsiness effects how well students perform in class, and

Almost every day high school students are waking up around six o’clock in the morning to get ready for school, some even earlier than that. Nearly every morning students are waking up without adequate sleep. If sleep is one of the most essential needs of the body in order to grow and develop, shouldn’t we be more aware of how much it affects students everyday performance? The ways in which students are affected by sleep-deprivation is precisely why school needs to start later.

insufficient sleep is a growing concern among adolescents is associated with a lot of health consequences. Early school start times may be a solution to this problem. The purpose of this is to impact the delay of school start time. A person might have better sleep patterns, mood, and health-related

Students should start school at 9:00 am because it improves the health of many students. Afterall we want to make learning easy and school a safe place for the students’. Chesapeake had 42.2 crashes for every 1000 teen drivers, compared to 65.4 per 1000 teen drivers in Virginia Beach-a 41 percent difference (Holohan). This major increase in car crashes was very influenced by earlier start times, causing teens to not pay attention. After the start time delay, mean school night sleep duration increased by 45 minutes, and average bedtime advanced by 18 minutes (MPH). A small change in schedule can affect a student amount of sleep and their ability to focus on important tasks. If we can cause a students’ health to increase why not things like grades or test scores.

Some believe that prolonging the start time of schools isn’t a good idea. While some might argue that, “School bus schedules are arranged to meet the needs of not just one school but all the schools in the district . . . Later start would mean some districts might be necessitated to investing in additional buses and drivers which might be expensive,” they forget that we could always rearrange the other school start times in the district. Next, some people may say, “There are also those who worry that if classes start later, teens will just go to bed later.” This could happen, however, most teens would take advantage and just go to bed at their regular time anyway, not later. Even if they did go to sleep later, waking up later in the morning

A big reason school’s may enjoy having a later start time, is because it can contribute to the school’s success. A later start time can improve the school’s overall test scores (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). Students can learn their best when they are not tired or drowsy. The School Start Later — Healthy Hours campaign stated that, “Academic improvements have been shown, and overall school climate has been measurably improved when high schools have restored later start times,” (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). The sleep researcher mentioned earlier, Wendy Troxel, said in her presentation that when kid’s are woken up by an alarm, they are literally robbed of their dreams. Dreams are associated with learning development. In order for student’s to use the most of their brains, they need to be receiving the right amount of good quality sleep. Not only do test scores rise, but so does the graduation rate, which is a major problem in today’s generation (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). In contribution to the student success, later start times could drastically improve the school’s success. Later start times have increased attendance around

" Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," said Ben Franklin. While most experts believe that a teen should get 9 hours of sleep, only 15% get that much sleep. With schools starting as early as 7:00 a.m (School Start Time and Sleep), most teenagers are only getting 7 hours of sleep (Sleep in Adolescents (13-18 Years)). In fact, " 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" (School Start Time and Sleep). When entering school, many teenagers look like zombies with their eyes half shut and posture sagging. This lack of sleep causes many problems, both physically and mentally. Therefore, in order to help students throughout the nation, school times should be changed and started later.

Adolescents don’t choose to stay up late; they do know the consequences of being tired the next day. “The starting time of school puts limits on the time available for sleep, this is a nonnegotiable limit established largely without concern