Waking Up Early Essay

Studies have shown that a significant change in both the quantity and quality of sleep amongst college students has occurred (The sleep duration and sleep satisfaction of college students: striking changes over the last decade).

School start times play a very big role in a student’s overall development, especially when they aren’t getting enough sleep because of it. An important factor to consider for a student’s development is the act of sleeping; that a lack of it can cause serious problems to the students’ growing body. According to research done with Brown University’s Julie Boergers, the author of the letter “Benefits of later school start times”, the amount of sleep that adolescents need ranges from 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. Only 17 percent of these students

For example, students actually perform worse when sleep deprived, dropping grades, and drop the school’s standardized test scores. With later start times children get more sleep, and children that get more sleep are generally prone to have better grades and overall better test scores. With longer sleep times children wake up with more energy and a better outlook on that day’s activities. Children that have later sleep times are proven to want to go back to school every day, and have a better attitude about learning. Children should have later start times, later

Do you wake up in the mornings to your alarm and snooze it because you are still tired and need more sleep? Many students have complained about the time you are required to get up for school. Most teens are arguing that it is healthier for them to get more sleep. In the article “Despite proven benefits, Starting School Later Remains ‘A Tough Sell’” by Tim Walker, claims that “...letting students sleep and starting school later can lead to better health and academic outcomes.”. Students should be given more time to sleep because it is good for them.

In fact, a study in 1998 conducted by Brown University tracked 10th graders switching to a 7:20 start time one hour earlier than their previous start time. Unfortunately, almost all of them went to bed at the same time as they had before. Fewer than half of them got even 7 hours of sleep. Even Anne Wheaton, lead author/epidemiologist of the CDC Division of Population Health agrees. “Getting enough sleep is important for students’ health, safety, and academic performance.”

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

First of all, schools switching from a 6:30 start to 7:30 A.M. saw a dramatic increase in attendance. An increase in attendance leads to students missing less instruction, and the students can really understand it deeper than when they learn on their own. Additionally, test scores and subject grades also increased. Research by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement states, “Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies.” A rise in grades helps in the long term. Better grades can, and do, lead to a better GPA, or grade point average. GPA is the average of the letter grades you receive in your classes, on a scale of 0 to 4.0, a four equaling an A, three equaling a B, two equaling a C, and so on. Also, this data shows that test grades were improved, which shows that high school students could get a higher score on the SAT and ACT exams. A combination of a good GPA and SAT or ACT score can ultimately lead to admission in a better college. A better college is vital to a student’s future job, as a better college may increase the job’s quality and pay. A small delay of one or two hours in the morning can potentially affect a

Many students, teachers, parents, and more throughout the country have a firm stance on the argument that school should start at a later time not only because of our diverse sleep patterns, but also because of the negative stress it puts on our bodies, and it even how it can influence our ability to learn. We hear of students constantly complaining about getting very little sleep every night during the school week. Many teachers, parents, and even other students getting better sleep seem to just blow it off or think that students are overexerting the problem. We are starting to see that there are actual negative effects from students, mainly in high school, losing sleep due to extra curricular activities, homework, and any other activities

Is waking up an hour later really worth it in high school? In the article High-School Starting Time, Jeff Varley, the author is trying to convince his audience of the troubles that high school students are going through by being forced to wake up early every morning for school. Varley wrote this essay his freshman year in college. The writer hopes to convince people that the best choice for high school students is for school to open later. In my opinion, opening school an hour later would not make a difference because students would still be as tired and unfocused.

Why does school have to start so early? Do teenager really want to wake up at 5 just to go to school? Being a high school students is really hard. We have to wake up at 5:30 just to attend school. A lot of high school students have jobs or play sports, ,A lot of kids stress about not finishing their homework in time which can result to sleep deprivation. A lot of my friend’s parents made them attend school that starts no earlier than 7:30 and their grades have improved so much.During my research I found that when school start later attendance went up by 15%,Graduation rates improved and there were lower risk of car accident by teenagers.

“Even mild sleep deprivation has been associated with significant health and educational concerns: increased risk for accidents and injuries, impaired learning, aggression, memory loss, poor self-esteem, and changes in metabolism," ("Findings from Vanderbilt"). Students would also be more alert and prepared if they got more sleep. “Three studies reported mixed results concerning the association between later school start times and student alertness,” (“Findings from Vanderbilt”). Student alertness would also help with improvements in grades and participation within the classroom. Students would be in a better mood and mindset due to more sleep. "’They are much happier and feel like they are much better prepared coming into school,’ said Thomas Rolston, superintendent at Avonworth,” (“Western Pennsylvania”). Sleep can not only help to improve health, but can also help to improve the social benefits of

Schools that start before 8 a.m. are a major reason students aren’t getting adequate sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation teenagers need on average 8 ½ - 9 ½ hours of sleep a night(Schute, Nancy). Realistically students rarely get that much sleep. When students don’t get adequate sleep it has the ability to affect their attention span, memory, problem-solving ability, and mood(Rosenberg, Russell). Are these students actually expected to pay attention, learn, solve problems, and have an acceptable attitude when they wake up sleep deprived? With a sleep cycle that changes once students hit puberty and an increase in the production of melatonin its nearly impossible for teens to fall asleep before 10:30 p.m.(Edwards, Finley). In my own experience I don’t even get tired until around 11:30 p.m. and barely fall asleep before 12, so it makes it extremely difficult to wake up at 6 a.m. and get ready for the day.

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

Many individuals, especially adolescents, do not function well early in the morning. “…many teenagers are going to school with their brains essentially in sleep mode” (Kaufman, 2001). This makes it difficult to retain information and in return use the information they have learned later on according to Robert Gerson, a physician and parent (Heinen, 1996). There is a reasonable explanation for why adolescents need the sleep they need at the times in which they need it, or do it for that matter. “Their circadian rhythms, determined by release of the hormone melatonin and other factors, were telling them to stay up later (even if their homework was finished and the day’s chores complete) and to get up later. On basic biological level, many had no more control over that circadian switch than they did over growing facial hair or breasts” (Kaufman, 2001).

Ever gotten up in the morning and not wanted to wake up? Don’t worry, I completely understand what you are feeling. I absolutely despise waking up in the morning. Picture this: middle school kids trudging through school all day, then coming home to after school activities, and to top it all off sleeping late because of stress. Waking up early is a real struggle for most kids, and if you asked any kid I'm sure they’d agree to the terms of school starting later. People say that because of the time kids have to wake up, their brain doesn't function too well in classes, and they don’t really learn to much. I agree with this statement, because it is definitely true. I know I can’t stay awake in class when I sleep late and then have to wake up