High school is infamously known for starting early in the morning, and ending early in the afternoon. But, is this time schedule affecting teenagers’ sleeping schedule? Teenagers’ sleep is being interrupted by an alarm in the morning; this leads them to waking up tired because their body wasn’t done sleeping. Teens go to bed late at home because they have too much work, or they aren’t tired, and then they wake up early to leave for school. This daily, early routine can badly affect the student’s health. Not getting enough sleep at night can lead to future health problems. To benefit the education and health of students, high schools should start classes later in the day. High school hours require students to wake up early, and this affects their health. When teens don’t get enough sleep, they can develop a poor diet or become depressed. In addition, teenagers tend to feel tired or drowsy for the rest of the day, which reflects through their mood. Teenagers who don’t get enough sleep during the weekdays, tend to sleep more on the weekends. Since these teenagers …show more content…
It is hard for teens to go to sleep early at night when “melatonin doesn’t kick in until around 10:30 p.m.” (Black). Since teens don’t get tired until approximately 10:30 p.m., if they were to get at least 9 hours of sleep, they would be waking up around 7:30 a.m. Most high schools start at 7:30 a.m., so it would be difficult for a teenager to get a full 9 hours of sleep on a school night. When teenagers don’t get their full 9 hours of sleep, this is when they become sleepy during class. Teens have no control over their sleeping schedule, because “their body chemistry forces them to stay awake at night” (Black). It is unfair to force students to wake up at an early time, when their body does not want to sleep and then is unable to wake up. Teenagers don’t have control over this, so it is not their fault that they are so sleepy in the
It is true that sleep deprivation is a widespread issue, generally resulting from early start times. It is also a serious one; according to a study by Harvard Medical School, sleep deprivation can lead to issues such as obesity, heart disease, difficulty learning, and can genuinely shorten a person’s lifespan. As Robbins explains, teenagers have a different internal sleep clock than other age groups. It is most healthy for students in high school to go to bed around 11 and wake up around 9. Since school often begins as early as 7, students are told they simply need to go to bed early, around 8 or 9 PM. This contention does not take into account the fact that humans are biologically not wired this way, and it's virtually impossible for most teens to fall asleep this early. It also doesn't take into account that with clubs, sports, church, volunteering, other extracurriculars and hours of homework, students often struggle to start their homework before their suggested “bedtime”. It is contended that students can control their own schedules so that they can get more sleep. However, pressure from parents and peers to get into a “good” college can cloud students’ perceptions of what is right for them, making them choose to overwork themselves in order to build impressive resumes. I myself can identify with this phenomenon. During the weekdays alone, I volunteer two nights a
On average, high school students receive about 3.5 hours of homework each night and elementary school students are getting about three times the amount that is recommended, which is ten minutes per grade, so 10 minutes for 1st grade and 50 minutes for 5th grade. Homework takes time to do after school and extracurriculars. If a student goes to school at 9:00 and gets out at 4:00, then goes to an after-school activity from 4:00 to 6:00, they will come home and have dinner from about 6:30 to 7:15, which means that they will probably start homework at around 7:30. This means that high school student would be up until about 11:00 finishing their homework, that’s without factoring in how much time the students will waste. 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 schools do start later.
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.
Teens spend most of their day at school but are unable to fulfill their learning opportunities because of little or no sleep.
All children need sleep and want sleep during the weekdays and that is very difficult. It has been noticed that older students and younger students, such as third graders and eleventh graders, sleep patterns are very different. In many places it is the same way that middle schools and high school start earlier than elementary schools. The problem is that adolescents stay up at least two and a half hours later than younger children do (Bergin 2). Older kids stay up for various reasons and younger children can fall asleep easier and earlier than high school students. Kids from elementary school all the way to high school tend to get up at relatively the same time but as stated before older kids go to sleep later than younger children. Ages 3-17 children tend to get up at the same time which is 7 a.m. (Bergin 1). The sleep patterns differ between high school students and elementary students but they are also very different between students and teachers.
Lack of sleep of teens is not caused by choice. Many teens do not choose to stay up late at night because they are out or having fun. The body has circadian rhythms. “These rhythms are generated internally and develop without any social or environmental cues. Adolescents experience a natural circadian phase delay and, therefore, tend to stay up later and sleep in later than in preadolescents” (Final Report Summary, 2001). The opening and closing schedules of schools are not based on these rhythms but are based on the business world and what is best for it. “School schedules should be adapted to the unique needs of different sub-populations of pupils. The administrator must not bear the sole responsibility for planning class schedules” (...
Teenagers need more sleep to go throughout the day. It has been proven multiple times that teenagers do not tend to wake up early and go to sleep later. In the article Should School Stay Early it says “They have a biological tendency to
In order to avoid sleep deprivation, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is vital for teenagers. Compared to opposing age groups, teenagers are most easily affected by inconsistent sleep habits (National Sleep Foundation, Adapt). The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reports that, “For the adolescent’s circadian clock to stay on track, it is essential that teens remain on schedule…(National Sleep Foundation, Adapt).” The NSF also recommends that teens only stay up one hour later on weekends than they would duri...
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.
Evie Blad puts this into great perspective by saying, “...requiring an older teenager to wake up at 7 a.m. is like asking a teacher to wake up at 4:30 a.m” (Blad 1). On top of this biological clock, students also have homework, jobs, extracurricular activities, and other social demands that make it even harder for teens to go to bed before 11 p.m. The need to be on ones cell phone or watch television contributes to this loss of sleep as well. Teenagers force themselves to go to bed at a decent time to get a good amount of sleep so they won’t be exhausted in class the next day. Even when they go to bed at a decent time they won’t fully fall asleep until that sleep wake cycle
Did you know that sleeping might help battle cancer (Source H) ? I didn't know until now. Many parents and students are aware that they (the students) are not getting enough sleep and that it affects their health. Some schools are pushing their school hours farther in order to help solve the sleep deprivation conflict. I qualify this solution up to the point if schools start no later than 8:30 am in the morning.
Schools start times are too early and need to be later for the benefit of the students. When school starts so early, students just aren’t getting enough sleep. Doctors recommend teens get between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep each night and with all the after-school activities, homework and early
Should high schools classes begin later in the day and end later in the day to accommodate students natural sleep clock? Some people may think high school classes should begin later in the day and end later in the day, But me personally I think the high school hours going to sleep early in result of waking up early and leaving school early is fine as it is. I strongly disagree on the fact that high school classes should start late and end late. Personally like really who would want to start school late and leave I know for a fact I don't want to be in school majority of my day. Some Kids that is in high school may have an Occupation that they would need to be able to attend and give 110 percent, Because that was a commitment that they gave there boss But Leaving school late already
When children make the transition from primary school to middle school or high school, it affects them a lot when the changing of their own sleep cycle affects the way they actually learn. Dr. Judith Owens, who is the director of the Sleep Medicine Clinic at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., says "adolescents are programmed to fall asleep later,” (2013). She wants to change school start times to later because "we are asking [teens] to be awake and alert at the time in their 24-hour clock when their alertness level is at its very lowest,” (2013). She also says that most teens can’t usually fall asleep until 11 p.m. Sleep expert Amy Wolfson of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., says that children should try to get eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep a night. Waking up at six a.m. leads to bad sleep patterns creating sleep deprivation.
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.