Early school start times affect the mental and physical health of students. If schools start later, students would be more ready to learn. With the early start times, students are not getting enough sleep and that is affecting their performance in earlier classes. They come to these classes like zombies and do not really take in what they are hearing.
Janet Croft studies teens and sleep in Atlanta, Georgia. U.S. High schools, she says, “start at such an early time that most teens are essentially brain dead when they go to these early classes.” This causes teens to act like “walking zombies.” Too little sleep has become so common among teens that it has been called an epidemic, or a widespread public health problem. Many teens get too little
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“Sleep deprivation is epidemic among adolescents, with potentially serious impacts on mental and physical health, safety, and learning. Most teenagers undergo a biological shift to a later sleep-wake up cycle, which can make early school start times particularly challenging.” says Boergers. Boerger’s team administered the School Sleep Habit Survey to boarding students attending an independent high school both before and after their school start time was delayed from 8:00 to 8:25 a.m. during the winter term. The delay in school start time was associated with a significant increase in sleep duration on school nights, with the percentage of students getting 8 or more hours of sleep at night jumping from 18 to 44 percent. Once the earlier start time was reinstituted during the spring term, teens went back to their original sleep …show more content…
Boergers, who is also co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, said these finding have important implications for public policy. “The result of the study add to a growing body of research demonstrating important health benefits of later school start times for adolescents,” she said. “If we more closely align school schedules with adolescents circadian rhythms and sleep needs, we will have students who are more happier, alert, and better prepared to learn.” Studies conducted over a nearly 30 year span have consistently shown only a small fraction of adolescents get the 9 or more hours of sleep they require to function at their best. While teenagers are notorious for causing their own sleep difficulties, sleep loss among adolescents is confined primarily to school nights. “Sleep deprivation is epidemic among adolescents, with potentially serious impacts on mental and physical health, safety, and learning. Most teenagers undergo a biological shift to a later sleep-wake cycle, which can make early school start times particularly challenging.” says
(Teens4) Work schedules for teens are also a contributing factor. Teens who work more than fifteen hours a week after school and on the weekends have less time for sleep. Teens typically stay up late and sleep in late on weekends which can affect the quality of their sleep. “If parents and teens know what good sleep entails and the benefits of making and sticking to a plan that supports good sleep, then they might re-examine what they think ‘essential activities’ truly are” (Teens5). Sleep deprivation can affect the way the brain functions during the day when teenagers are need of it the
From morning until night, teenagers have to work relentlessly. Schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and maintaining a social life are just some of the many stressors in the life of a teenager. From the sound of this, it would seem almost as if teenagers have no time to sleep. In fact, this is partially true. Studies conducted by the Center for Advancing Health have shown that only about eight percent of high schoolers in the United States get the required amount of sleep to be deemed healthy. This is an exceptionally low number for an entire nation. Not getting enough sleep on average can be extremely detrimental to the wellbeing of a student and for a generation as
One reason why high school should start later than elementary schools is that with such early start times, the average high school students do not get enough sleep and are considered sleep deprived. According to a survey completed by The National Sleep Foundation, only 20% of high school students sleep the optimal 9 hours on school nights and 60% of children under the age of 18 have complained that they are tired throughout the school day to their parents (“School Start”). Sleep depravity is very common among high school students. With disadvantaged sleep patterns, adolescents have decreased mental sharpness and ability to pay attention during school hours. Therefore, grades and test scores are lower than their potential. In fact, “a recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation showed that only 20 percent of teenagers report getting the optimal 9 hours of sleep o...
Sleep is an important human function, and without it your body is unable to do the human tasks it is normally able to do. Not sleeping can cause harmful results. Many schools have researched and examined information on what would be the best start time for students to perform at their best. Most students do not get the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep needed in order to function properly. Most teens do not get enough sleep — one study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights,” (Teens and Sleep). Limiting the amount of time you sleep affects your personality as well as ability to function. Therefore, many districts have reviewed their start times to start later, in order to see more refined results.
Many teenagers across the world are forced to wake up early in the morning to go to school. Because of this, teenagers have a larger risk of sleep deprivation, depression, criminal activity, and more. How can reduce these risks? Some schools have rejected the idea of a later start time, but others are looking into the idea in hopes of trying to reduce these risks. Although some people believe that it would not be beneficial, we should push back school start times in order to reduce sleep deprivation and improve academic performance in teenagers.
The cause of sleep deprivation isn’t from the early start time of school; the problem lies in electronics and teens organizing their lives. Instead of changing school times teens need to be taught when their phone, TV, and Computer should be shut off. Sleep deprivation and is extremely danger but sadly changing the school start time won’t prevent this; changing the start time will only cause more problems. If anything teens need to learn how to prioritize their life’s with the freedom they have received. Finally teens need to be informed about the dangers of sleep deprivation and that the text message conversation can wait until the morning.
Today, teens are scientifically proven for sleeping in late and being particularly challenging to wake up. Missing sleep can confirm disastrous for any person’s health. Starting out on losing sleep at an early age could have serious consequences. I believe that pushing back the school day by two hours, or so, will have a positive effect on students’ academic performance in school. During our generation, there have been countless teens who have been finding themselves with the lack of sleep. The intervention study showed that delaying school start time had the effect of increasing sleep duration and decreasing daytime sleepiness (Joseph A. Buckhalt). In other words, teens sleep patterns can have an overpowering outcome, in either way, for the education of all students. If school days were pushed back to reasonable times, an expansion of kids would be more attentive. Their grades would slip as much as today’s because they’d be more concentrated on what is to be going on in class, and what needs to be done instead of sleepy; about to fall over in their chair. New evidence suggests that a later start to the school day could have all sorts of benefits, like better grades and fewer car crashes (Gonchar, 2014). Not only would it help students’ to have higher ranks, but it would also help enhance the moods of many. Missing slee...
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
Students test scores are falling due to lack of sleep because school starts so early. “A new Swedish study shows that adolescents who suffer from sleep disturbance or habitual short sleep duration are less likely to succeed academically compared to those who enjoy a good night’s
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that students aren’t getting adequate amounts of sleep and this is a problem. It was said that “The CDC’s recommendations come a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics urged schools to adjust start times so more kids would get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of nightly rest.” (“Why School Should”). This tells us that students need a certain amount of sleep to function properly. An article from neatoday.org states “Unfortunately, concerns about lack of sleep often get the brush-off from schools and even some parents who are quick to blame inattentiveness in school solely on teen behavior, laziness, general indifference, or all of the above. If only they went to bed earlier, concentration and attentiveness would improve. But in their report, the researchers say that schools are ignoring adolescent biology and are systematically restricting the time available for sleep and causing severe and chronic sleep loss.” (“Despite Proven Benefits”) An example of this is helping with student academics. The Atlantic also regards in their article that “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. Schools also saw a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression. Some even had a dramatic drop in teen car crashes.” (“Why School Should”). From this data you can see that through the right amount of sleep, students are able to better perform in learning
The relationship between sleep and performance in schools is best described as a domino effect. Teen are already affected by their biology because their circadian rhythms are completely different than those of adults and children. This differences are and were not taken into account when the start of school time was implemented. This different
High School students are most influenced by early morning start times, and are scientifically being affected by mental health disorders despite reports of “Just being sleepy”. The results of sleep deprivation are brutal, and can lead to minor, short term effects such as drowsiness, inability to focus, poor motivation, a decrease in attention span or serious, long term effects like anxiety, extended insomnia, micro-sleeping, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Teenagers themselves are more at risk than other members of the school board due to the current development of their brain, which isn't fully developed until the age of a 25. By delaying school start times until 8:00-8:30, students get more sleep and can be more productive.
Teenagers need more sleep to function in school; many studies have proven that more sleep helps us learn better and that our teen brain works significantly different than adults. Studies have shown that the teen’s brain biology is different; these studies conclude that if schools want ready students, they need to be well rested. With not enough sleep, teens are in danger of mental and physical health problems. Teens are more likely to drop out of school because they are not motivated to do their best because they are so sleep deprived to focus on school work. If our public school allows us even at least thirty minutes of extra sleep, we will be able to keep up with our biological internal clock thus being able to concentrate more, making an obvious change in our test scores.
In the U.S., too many teens are sleep deprived. In fact, 85% of middle and high school students don’t get enough sleep. The average teenager needs at least nine hours and at most eleven hours of sleep each night. Most teens only get seven hours per night, and a study
Universal education is one of the boasting points a developed country such as the United States can make. It is required by law for children to go to school until they are at least 16 years old. Since schooling is such an integral part of life, one would think that it would be constantly in repair, being improved so that society can improve. Some aspects of school life, however, have fallen behind. Specifically in high school, one such aspect is when the day is scheduled to start. There are have been major strides in the research of sleep, and many of them find that the common first bell for adolescents negatively coincides with their sleep schedule. The traditional time for high schools to start is based off of outdated factors. Scientific evidence on adolescents’ sleep needs and studies conducted on the results after changes were made show that the major benefits to delaying the beginning of school a half-hour to an hour later outweigh possible obstacles.