Voorhees Middle School Case Study

Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity. Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance and health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night, and most report feeling tired during the day (Nationwide Childrens, 2003). The root of the problem is early school start times.

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

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

In many districts, elementary and high schools start classes at about the same time each day. However, the students that attend these schools have very different sleep needs because they are at different stages in their development. Scientific research has shown that high schools should start classes later to address the major problems created by sleep deprivation among teenagers. By doing so, the health and learning abilities of adolescents would greatly improve.

Research shows that sleep is a necessity for everyone, especially teenagers. When starting school a little later, students can get at least 2-3 hours of extra sleep. With a 7 hour day at school, a couple of hours of homework, studying, and after school activities, there is not much time for sleep. With the extra sleep, when students get to school, they would be focused and ready to learn! “A common belief is that adolescents are tired, irritable and uncooperative because they choose to stay up too late or are difficult to wake in the morning because they are lazy, a study noted. Educators tend to think that adolescents learn best in the morning and if they simply went to sleep earlier, it would improve their concentration” (Schaffhauser 2). For all of these reasons, it is very important for teens should sleep.

According to Wahlstrom Kyla, collaborated with the center of applied research and educational improvement(CAREI) at the university of minnesota in august 1996, “ teenagers need about 9.25 hours of sleep each night, a difficult amount to obtain when the brain does not enter sleep mode until about 10:45 p.m and when students must awaken early for a school day that begins before 8:30 a.m. medical research.”. Teenagers cannot control their sleep hours since it is a physical condition caused by puberty. Therefore they receive less hours of sleep than needed. Schools should start later to avoid causing their students health issues. Their bodies are still growing, teens whose bodies are still growing need between 8.5 to 9.5 hours each night, and sleep deprivation may lead to depression, obesity, substance abuse, and an increase in car crashes.

However, if schools started later there could be a chance of reducing sleep deprivation in teens. Teens generally need an average of 9 hours per night, yet they receive less than 7 hours of sleep. Today, the major issue adolescents face is chronic sleep. Mary Carskadon’s team found out that students who showed up for morning classes before 7:30 were seriously sleep-deprived, forced their bodies to be awake and run contrary to their internal clocks. In addition, the lack of sleep can cause a student to fall asleep in class. According to a survey done by the CDC, 20-30% of high school students fall asleep in school each day. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that, “School districts should optimize sleep in students and urge high schools and middle schools to aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep to improve physical and mental health.” Also, a major study at the University of Minnesota have shown that the consequences of insufficient sleep are associated with obesity, immune system disruption, smoking, violence, and depression. Consequently, early school start times can result in fewer hours of sleep as students don’t compensate this with earlier

According to a study done by the National Sleep Foundation, more than 60% of students complain of being tired each day. This is unacceptable, and we need to lower that percentage. One way we can do that is by making the start time of schools later in order to get children the sleep they deserve. The start time of schools should be later because it would improve student’s mental health, it would improve their academic abilities, and it would make students less prone to injury and accidents.

In the article “Today’s Exhausted Superkids,”Frank Bruni makes many valid, controversial points. More than half American teenagers say they are getting less than seven hours of sleep. This is all due either to the amount of homework assigned each night, or all the times students get distracted while attempting to finish the work. In many classes, students must prepare themselves for all the extra work they will be doing. Various problems are associated with the one considerable topic: sleep deprivation. Several different factors can lead to shorter hours of sleep during the night.

Studies by the National Sleep Foundation have shown that teenagers lose up to two hours of sleep per night during the school year. A big component of sleep loss is a direct result of the early start times for high school. Between after school sports, work, and homework the average teen does not make it to bed before 11p.m. Adolescents then proceed to wake up before 6:30 a.m. to make it to school on time leaving them with an insufficient amount of sleep. Many fatigued teenagers then come to school and easily miss out on learning. School officials have presented a variety of solutions to school boards to increase student alertness during school hours. One reasonable solution that would be an easy fix to the problem is switching high school and elementary schools’ start times to decrease drowsiness of high schoolers in morning classes.

Many high school students are exhausted in the morning because of how early school starts. High school teens wake up and get ready, go to school for eight hours, stay after school with extracurricular activities (which may go until six o’clock in the evening,), go home and eat, do homework, and then go to bed. In just a few hours, these students will have to wake up and repeat the process. This process leaves students exhausted, mentally and physically. According to facts, about forty-five percent of all students get less than eight hours of sleep while doctors recommend at least nine (Drowsy Driving). Due to this fact, they end up going to school tired and may not be in the best mood due to lack of sleep. Because of this, Goessel High

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

In the article, “Teachers, Students, and Sleep,” Dave Stuart addresses the importance of sleep. As a teacher, Stuart strives to motivate his students. The core of his article is this: “If my students sleep better, I bet they’ll self-motivate better.” Stuart’s article is organized in the following way: an introduction, seven powerful facts about sleep, ten ways on how to get “better sleep,” and a conclusion. Throughout the article Stuart cites Maria Konnikova and Shawn Stevenson, authors of books that focus on sleep. Avoiding substances before bed, sleep consistency, regular eating and sleeping schedules, and frequent exercise all are ways to get better sleep. Some facts Stuart configured together about sleep were the importance of sleep

68.9% of High school scholars do not get the recommended amount of sleep on an average school night. High school students remain exhausted of waking up every weekday at 5am just to manage getting ready for school. Student’s can’t concentrate and manage a healthy lifestyle to obtain an education if the scholar is half awake. Personally you can witness when students come into class to put their head down and just go to sleep through the lesson, or you even recognize heavy bags under their eyes when you take a glimpse at the student’s face. High School students should start school later in the morning, considering that scientific studies show that the young teens academic levels are fatally decreasing. Students decide to fall asleep in class,