Why We Should Start Later

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

Most high school students go to sleep later than 12 AM due to homework, and they wake up early as 5:30 AM to study for a test. According to the National Institute of Health, 90 percent of American high school students are sleep deprived. It also reveals some shocking news that a whopping 20 percent are getting by on less than five hours per night. Students need homework, but they also need the right amount of time to finish it and get an adequate amount of sleep. Schools should start after 8:30 AM so that students can get the right amount of sleep they need.

The primary reason for attending school is for adolescents to get an education in hopes of getting a good job.  Attendance, test scores, and GPA’s all play an important role in a student’s success in school, and if they can all be improved by pushing the start time back, then this issue should be pushed further.  The root problem of students not performing to their full potential has to do with the inability to focus from drowsiness in class due to the lack of sleep they are getting.  To support this point, Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and his team, “found that students showed up for morning classes seriously sleep-deprived and that the 7:20 a.m. start time required them to be awake during hours that ran contrary to their internal clocks” (Richmond).  In other words, Carskadon believes that current high school start times go against teens’ natural sleep patterns, making them be awake at a time where their bodies aren’t ready to get up yet.  This causes concentration issues making paying attention in class harder, and kids not getting the best grades they can.  Also, sleep won’t get any

43 % of public high schools start before 8 a.m. Studies show that kids in school need 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep each night. Studies also show that 2/3 of kids in school get less than 7 hours of sleep each night. Because of all of these facts, 33% of high school students fall asleep in class. School should start later than 8 because kids still in school need more sleep than the 6-7 hours they get.

fatigue overwhelms you the whole day. Now imagine that you slept this was every night. Accomplishing simple tasks would be difficult if one is sleep deprived. Performing at your potential would almost be impossible. In order to get rid of these unforgettable feeling many people would sleep late and go to bed early. But with such early start times for high school many students feel sleep deprived and do not achieve their best. Doing so would improve students health. Some individuals feel that keeping the start times at their current time would be best for parents and school districts. However, many people believe that delaying school start times would positively

In the first place, students are not getting enough sleep. In the article “Should School Start later” by Lisa M. Herrington [20] “According to the National Sleep Foundation “59% of 6th-8th graders and 87% of high schoolers aren't getting the sleep they require”. This quote shows that students are not getting the sleep they need. And kids must wake up early how are they getting the sleep we need. “So why don’t kids just go to sleep earlier? It’s not that simple” Says Danny Lewin, a sleep specialist at Children's National Health system in Washington, D.C. “Adolescents have a deeply programmed biological clock to go to bed later and wake later” Says

Students,especially students who drive to and from school are also at risk of more car crashes because of sleep deprivation. Additionally getting good sleep is important to maintaining good health,staying awake and alert, and working at peak performance. Although students can simply sleep earlier, many need that time to study and complete homework, with a later start time students can get their homework down and get a sufficient amount of sleep.”According to this research, the ideal amount of sleep for the average teenager falls between 8.5 and 9.5 hours a night, and teenagers who receive adequate sleep benefit from better physical and mental health, safety, and academic performance. It also revealed that puberty causes a “phase delay” in teenagers, which shifts the time that teenagers fall asleep back by two

Starting schools later, even as early as 8:30 am would reduce the amount of car crashes that high schooler and buses have because since it is later in the morning, when teenagers can get more sleep and they have less fatigue and sleep deprivation so they can focus on the road. Sleep deprivation impairs the brain to be able to be alert, pay attention, solve problems and cope with stress. If schools started as early as an hour later than students would get more sleep and this would result in many beneficial and positive things for the brain like alertness and ability to concentrate. CDC also reports that 70% of high school teens sleep for 7 hours or less. Teens need to sleep for at least 8-10 hours, this is because the teenage brain produces the sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin at a delayed schedule.

A vast majority of middle and high school students are sleep deprived. High school students wake up at 6 or 6:30 a.m. every weekday, go to school until 3 p.m. or later. Then some have sports, a job, and other important activities. There has been much debate over whether or not schools should start later or not.

Teen students need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night, though many only get 6 to 7 hours of sleep as a result of early high school start times. Changing school start times in high schools is the only way to combat the gap between the times. Considering that many teens cannot fall asleep before 11 pm, modifying start times is the best way to improve students health. Changing school start times is beneficial to high school students, modifying start times would improve students health, improve driving skills, as well as save money for the school districts. Changing high school start times is beneficial to student’s health and well being.

There may be some of you out there who simply believe, “Why don’t they just go to sleep earlier?” The truth is, that the biological clock in adolescents can change on average two hours from middle school into high school, which means that they are supposed to go to sleep at 11 and wake up at around 8 (“Teens Need”). This time frame is not taken into account in high school start times, which suggest adolescents going to sleep at 9 and waking up at 6. The time suggested by the schools goes against a high schooler 's biological clock, leaving most teens going to sleep around 11 and waking up at an average time of 5:30; a mere 6 ½ hours of sleep is achieved with this time frame, 3 hours less than what has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maloney-Dunn). The American Academy of Pediatrics suggest a high school start time of 8:30 or later

Many people think that school should start at ten in the morning. Do you think that the school should be able to do that? There are some pros and cons to this argument. One being, would there be time to mingle with your family and friends? And another being, do I have the time to put in hour for my job?

Advocates argue that an 8:30 am start time improves student’s chances of success. In the early morning, when their brains are not fully awake, students are not forced to focus on difficult academic tasks and concepts. From improved learning to better health ,there are myriad of reasons public schools are considering starting school at 8:30. The National Sleep Foundation says that teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough) but that the

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

"American Academy of Pediatrics. The Academy recommended the 8:30 a.m. start time. That recommendation was based on natural sleep rhythms of school age children, especially teenagers."("High Schoolers And Snooze Button: A Public Health Crisis?") Most people do not even realize that they are not getting enough sleep. Healthy sleep is when you are able to wake up at the same time every day without an alarm clock. Many people can not do this but if you are unable to wake up the same time everyday you need to reevaluate your sleep habits. Most children need their parents or an alarm clock to wake them up for their school day which typically starts for most high school students at 6 or 7am every day. As I have established sleep is where the many memories - lesson, lectures, and notes- are consolidated and solidified. But if when that important time is being disturbed constantly then there is a possibility that information will be missing and memories may not all be solidified into a person’s long term memory. Schools that start at about 8:30 am are more likely to have more aware and more awake students which is not only beneficial for students and their safety but is also beneficial for teachers