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Why School Should Start Later

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Oh no, I’m an hour late! How many times has this happened to you? Now your entire day is off schedule. To eliminate the troublesome issue concerning sleep, schools should shift their start times so they begin later in the morning, and end later in the afternoon. Doing so would result in increased cognitive ability and function as students and staff will sleep longer, and students will have improved memory and learn more efficiently. When people have six or fewer hours of sleep, their brains do not function at maximum potential as someone who received seven to eight hours. An article written by Tisha Wang from UCLA reveals that behavioral alertness significantly decreases from the lack of at least seven hours of sleep. Other results caused by the lack of adequate sleep are short term memory problems and impaired attention. If schools were to shift their schedules, students and teachers would not have to stress as much about getting sufficient sleep because schools will begin at later times. Boosts in cognitive function, engaged students, and productivity are all benefits provided by the shifting in school schedules. …show more content…

An article in Nature Neuroscience from February 2009 describes an experiment which was conducted regarding sleep and its correlation to memory. Memory was impaired after 35 hours of sleep deprivation weekly and constant shallow sleep. Regular sleep benefits memory as newly stored information is easily encoded. Proper sleep is crucial for processing and retaining new information. Those who suffer from sleep deprivation struggle to maintain new information and with comprehension skills. In order for students to maximize their learning capabilities, they need the proper sleep to be mentally prepared for

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