The Effects Of Early School Starting Times

802 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Benefits of a later start time in schools

A Study On the Effects of Early School Starting Times
“They say the early bird catches the worm, but for teens in high school it would be better to catch some shut eye” says Kennedy is his article “Too Early to Rise.” School should start at a later time for the reason that students are not getting enough sleep to properly function in school. In this paper you will see the effects of not getting enough sleep has on students and what it does to their performance.
Groups like the CDC (center for disease control and prevention) are urging schools to move back the start time of schools and let students sleep in longer. The CDC has found that two out of every three high school students fail to get sufficient sleep (8.5 to 9.5 hours a night). Teenagers biologically start to fall asleep up to two hours later around the time of puberty due to changes in their circadian rhythms. "Probably the ideal start time would be 9 o 'clock," said Judith Owens, lead author of the AAP policy statement and director of sleep medicine at Children 's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. "We know that the average adolescent is really challenged to fall asleep much before 11 p.m. because of changes in circadian biology," she noted. "We also know average adolescents need somewhere between 8½ and 9½ hours of sleep. So they 're probably best suited to wake up around 8 in the morning." But seldom do students actually get to wake up around 8. Most students have to be up around 6 in the morning in order to eat breakfast, get ready, and have enough time for transportation. Some researchers go even further. Paul Kelley, a sleep researcher at Oxford University in England, says 10 a.m. or later is the ideal start time for high schools.
The AAP guidelines cite...

... middle of paper ...

... simple adjustment, but schools are finding it to be a challenge, especially if it brings additional costs. Different start times could interfere with students ' sports and club activities or after-school jobs, as well as with parent’s child care arrangements, and some argue that a later start would just encourage teens to stay up even later.
The major obstacle for most districts, especially larger systems, is that starting times for schools are intertwined with transportation schedules for elementary, middle and high school students. Rearranging start times may disrupt carefully crafted bus schedules and raise the costs of getting students to and from school. But it 's hard for educators to ignore scientific data, and the effects of no sleep can have on students. Some school systems have taken steps to follow the recommendations, at least at the high school level.

Show More
Related

  • Enhancing Student Well-being: The Case for Later School Start Times

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sleep! That wonderful, blissful void between last night and this morning. Sleep is one of the most basic functions of life. Nearly all creatures must sleep in order to properly carry out tasks; teenagers are no exception. The typical teenager needs an average of nine to ten hours of sleep a night in order for their brains to be capable of working at full capacity. School starts so early that they infringe upon that basic necessity. In order for teens to receive an adequate amount of sleep, it is mandatory to enact later start times for high schools across the country.

    Read More

  • Why We Should Start School Later

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    How many times has this happened to you; it’s six thirty on a Tuesday morning, your alarm has already gone off twice, your still laying in bed and your bus comes in twenty minutes. This is an everyday occurrence at my house. It is a proven statistic that the average high school student does not get enough sleep. While some experts like Dr. Lee Yanku say “It is not the schools starting time that is the problem as to why students don’t get enough sleep, it is because of facebook, myspace and cell phones” The truth behind it is that we can’t budget sports, homework and extracurricular activities into one day and still get nine hours of sleep. This is hurting student’s academic averages and needs to change. Changing the school time will help boost academic averages among students, and isn’t th...

    Read More

  • Why Schools Should Start Later Essay

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    This leaves students with less than the recommended 9 hours of sleep. Students that have to stay up that late for homework will be tired in the morning, even if their school starts later. Many people argue that starting schools later will let students get more sleep and align with the students sleep cycles. But they do not factor in that students will just stay up later at night because they know that they do not have to get up as early in the morning. This will just leave students with less sleep than before.

    Read More

  • Early School Start Times Research Paper

    58 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although sizeable information exists for the concepts that early school start times are destructive to adolescents’ health and well-being along with delaying school start times results in real and constant benefits to students, the current debate among school districts in the United States regarding school systems later start times for middle and high schools continues to spark controversy.

    Read More

  • Start School Start Later Case Study

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is reported that 2/3 of students get less than seven hours of sleep, which is more than an hour under the minimal suggested sleep time (Mckibben, Sarah G. "Wake Up Calls (Fast Facts)." Start School Later. School Start Later, 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2015). Without the proper sleep, students will be falling asleep in class. One third of students fall asleep during school from lack of concentrated sleep. “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schools start class no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to allow students to get healthy sleep” (Mckibben, Sarah G. "Wake Up Calls (Fast Facts)." Start School Later. School Start Later, 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2015). With only fifteen percent of all public high schools starting after 8:30 a.m. that means that 85 percent of teens are not getting the standard amount of healthy sleep. Studies show that sleep deprived students are more likely to be involved in violent crimes than those who get a good night’s sleep. By simply pushing school start times back a half an hour or so, it would greatly benefit both the students and the society surrounding the individuals because of reduced crime

    Read More

  • Sleep Deprivation In Early Schools

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: Should Schools Have Later Start Times?

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the National Sleep Foundation, biological sleep patterns change throughout the stages of adolescence. ¨Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence-meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00pm.¨ (¨Teens and Sleep¨). Messing with these sleep cycles in the long run and lead to sleep disorders. Research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests teenagers 13-18 years old should regularly sleep 8-10 hours each night for a healthy sleep. The teens who do not get a good amount of sleep are more likely to suffer from mental conditions, smoking, illicit drugs, and alcohol use. ¨Not getting enough sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks including being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs, as well as poor academic performance.¨ (¨Schools Start Too Early¨). On an NBC news story, Hilton Head Island High School moved its start time and benefits were noticeable. Students had higher test score averages and grades improved throughout the school.A study done in 2008 published in the journal of clinical sleep, found car accident rates fell by 16.5% when students were more aware on the road, not having to wake up before 7 am.

    Read More

  • Later School Start TImes

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!” The teenage student slams on the snooze button and struggles to get out of bed for the early school day. Teens on average need 9 ¼ hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Teens currently average fewer than 7 hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Hectic schedules, poor sleep habits, homework, and family obligations are the problem (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Schools are considering starting their school days later in the morning. For example, one Minneapolis school considered pushing back their start time from 7:15 to 8:30. Another Seattle school considers pushing back the school day start reported Jean Enersen. Would this benefit the students or harm the students? Is this for the better or for the worse? These are questions many superintendents and school board members are asking themselves. They all want to do what is best for their students, so the topic takes a lot of thinking, planning, and conversations. School starting later can be a very controversial issue.

    Read More

  • Why School Should Start Later Essay

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s 6:20 in the morning you and/or your kid have to wake up to get ready and to school on time. It’s a fight to get your tired teen out of bed and to school on time, but it’s really not their fault their still tired. Over the years school start times have gotten earlier and earlier. Today, however scientists and sleep doctors around the world are starting to notice the negative effects of this early start time on our youth. Schools should start later because teens don’t get enough sleep and sleep deprivation affects academic learning and student health.

    Read More

  • Why School Should Start Later

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Teenagers need around 10 hours of sleep, but most teens get around 7 hours of sleep. Some people say it is because of school start time, but other people say it’s the kids’ fault for going to bed so late. The people that say it’s the kids’ fault are usually people who work for the school district. Some people say that it’s the teens’ fault, but the AASM says that it is natural for teens to go to sleep late and then sleep in a lot. School start times should be pushed back so that teens can get enough sleep.

    Read More

  • Why High School Should Start Later Essay

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    If teens need 8 to 10 hours of sleep to do their best and naturally go to sleep around 11:00 pm, one way to get more sleep is to start school later. Teens' natural sleep cycle puts them in conflict with school start times. Most high school students need an alarm clock or a parent to wake them on school days. They are like zombies getting ready for school and find it hard to be alert and pay attention in class. Because they are sleep deprived, they are sleepy all day and cannot do their best. Schools that have set later bell times find that students do not go to bed later, but get one hour more of sleep per school night, which means five hours more per

    Read More

  • Why Should Schools Start Later

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neatoday.org states, “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, ‘ The study not only found that later school start times at the schools raised academic performance, but it also decreased tardiness, substance abuse, symptoms of depression, and consumption of caffeinated drinks.” This means students get very tired, which drags them away from doing work. Not doing work leads to bad grades. School starting later can fix this. The effect of this is better academic performances. Now, students can get a good night’s sleep, and improved grades at the same time. In any case, academic skills and scores can

    Read More

  • High School Start Time Essay

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people like the early start times, others want schools to start around 8-8:30. Coming from a high school where classes start at 8:35, I believe that an 8:30 start time and a 2:15 day in terms of time is perfect for American High Schoolers. Later start times increase sleep, improves grades and improves health and athletic performance. The new normal for high school teenagers is to stay up late at night and wake up early

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: Should School Start Start Time?

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people are resistant to change, especially if it involves reassembling their plans and procedures to adjust to the new schedule. This is a problem for parents’ work schedules since they most likely will not be able to see their kids in the morning which will leave students unsupervised when they get ready. This is also a problem for transportation since parents will not be able to take their kids to school which might cause traffic and more costs since bus schedules would change too. According to the Sleep Foundation, "If elementary students have the earliest start times, they may be waiting for the bus in the dark early mornings, or waiting at home alone after school." Later start times are thought to solve tardies and absences, but if students cannot get to school, it does not solve anything. A change in the school schedule will result in disorder in many people’s daily routines perhaps having to discard certain activities to fully adjust to the new schedule. The changes caused by a new schedule affects students

    Read More

  • Essay On Why Kids Should Start Later In School

    2061 Words  | 5 Pages

    The alarm goes off at six am and the typical high school student is barely able to open their eyes. It is time to get up and prepare for a full day at school, about eight hours. Most teenagers, according to the National Sleep Foundation, will only get about six hours of sleep since they tend to stay up until midnight (“Should schools start later in the day?”). After getting ready, many students look forward to a nap in their first hour class despite the information they will miss. Teenagers seem to always have had trouble getting up in the morning, even earning the title of lazy from their parents. However, recent research on adolescent sleep patterns has produced a biological explanation for this tendency. This raises a serious question: why are high schools starting early in the morning when teenagers are biologically programmed to sleep in? For most cases, school start time has not been conformed to fit student physiological needs simply because of transportation issues.

    Read More

More about The Effects Of Early School Starting Times

Open Document