What Are The Detrimental Effects Of Starting The School Day Too Early

In today's society, most people desire success. They want to attend a respected college, earn exceptional grades, get a wonderful job, and make a lot of money. However, the road to success starts before all of those accomplishments can happen. This journey begins in the classroom. In the classroom, over 25% of all high-school students fall asleep one or more times a week (Mayer-Hohdahl 1). Why does this happen? Schools have sleepy students because of their early start times. "Starting high school early is probably one of the worst things you can do as far as timing the day, as far as adolescents being alert or ready" (Wooley 2). This is a serious problem in high schools all across the nation. Students are tired, and teachers are

Picture this, students sit like sloths in a cold, dim lit room, tapping their pencil to the beat of their pulse struggling to stay awake. Daydreams fill their brains looking out the window wishing to be somewhere else, inattentive to the world around them. Eyes stare deadly into their papers hoping for the bell to ring and class to end. Grades plummet, self-esteem drops, and a continuous cycle with no end phases the new generation into depression and anxiety. Late night on their phones, studying through the night, watching their clock tick past midnight until the morning sun, only to wake up sleepless with a whole school day ahead of them filled with tests, quizzes, and learning. Many think of this as a part of growing up and life, but in reality, it is torturous. So, who wouldn’t love to wake up with barely any sleep and go to school? We can only imagine how ecstatic and lively our students would be to get up for school if they were able to get a sufficient amount of sleep every night.

No activities. Less transportation. The same amount of sleep. These are some of the things that will happen if late start school passes. Late start school would negatively affect athletes because they would not be able to practice since they would not have enough time. Transportation would be affected in a negative way because there would be more money spent on buses. Late start school would affect everyone in a negative way.

Students in high school struggle with sleep so seriously that medical professionals call it an epidemic, with 87% of students getting less than the recommended amount of sleep (Richter). It’s difficult to balance sports and extracurriculars with school and homework, and, come junior and senior year, college applications and jobs as well. All these activities in students’ lives leave them little time for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately for them, sleep is actually crucial, as it has not only been shown to improve GPA, but also help students with memorizing information (Hershner). Not to mention that most high schools start classes early in the morning, with 29.9% of schools starting before 7:30 am, according to a 2012 survey (CDC). According

In Alpena, the public school system has the schools transportation arriving at students houses as early as five o’clock. For some students that means waking up as early as four o’clock in the morning. Many statistics have shown that waking up extremely early in the morning is bad, and in order to attend public schooling you are required to wake up early. If kids are expected to live up to their full potential, they need to acquire between 8-10 hours of sleep. Not getting enough sleep can result in behavioral and mood issues. The lack of sleep also results in a tired brain, which doesn’t allow children to retain and learn things. School shouldn’t start so early.

At MIT, conversations like this are commonplace. I find it astounding that at one of the finest institutions of higher education in the world, home to some of the most brilliant students I have ever encountered, sleep is regarded as optional. We are a school of science and technology. Here, facts and logic reign supreme. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence pointing toward the necessity of healthy sleep, students are hitting the sack for far less time than is considered healthy for a typical 18-22 year old.

Almost every day high school students are waking up around six o’clock in the morning to get ready for school, some even earlier than that. Nearly every morning students are waking up without adequate sleep. If sleep is one of the most essential needs of the body in order to grow and develop, shouldn’t we be more aware of how much it affects students everyday performance? The ways in which students are affected by sleep-deprivation is precisely why school needs to start later.

When adolescents receive an adequate amount of sleep, their memory improves substantially, leading them to perform better on school assignments such as projects, quizzes, and tests. Furthermore, when youngsters are able to follow their natural sleep clocks, their brains are more likely to understand and comprehend material that is taught to them during class, which will result in them receiving higher grades on assignments. A study conducted at Harvard University showed that adolescents who received at least eight and a half hours of sleep were fifty percent more likely to earn all A’s during the school year than teenagers who only received around six to seven hours of sleep. Therefore, delaying school start times will allow teenagers to show their true academic potential. Even though some people may argue that high school start times do not need to be delayed in order for students to perform well in school, adolescents are more likely to be determined to work hard and obtain better grades when they sleep sufficiently. In addition to the drastic improvement on school performance, students will also be more engaged in their education with later start

68.9% of High school scholars do not get the recommended amount of sleep on an average school night. High school students remain exhausted of waking up every weekday at 5am just to manage getting ready for school. Student’s can’t concentrate and manage a healthy lifestyle to obtain an education if the scholar is half awake. Personally you can witness when students come into class to put their head down and just go to sleep through the lesson, or you even recognize heavy bags under their eyes when you take a glimpse at the student’s face. High School students should start school later in the morning, considering that scientific studies show that the young teens academic levels are fatally decreasing. Students decide to fall asleep in class,

Often, students are tired during the day and while they’re in class. Being tired affects their learning as well as how they function. It not only affects that but it also can cause higher rates of obesity, depression, and motor vehicle accidents, as well as an overall lower quality of life. Getting enough sleep is important for students safety, health, and academic performance.

With class starting at 8:30 AM, extracurricular activities extending well past 8 PM, students working in after school jobs, trying to keep up on the constant demand of homework: high school students put getting a solid eight hours of sleep or even a quick power nap, at the bottom of their to-do lists. "Over-packed schedules and 12-hour days are draining already sleep-deprived teenagers. In high schools where most students go onto college, the pressure to excel inside and outside of the classroom leaves students with little time to relax." ("Power Napping," 1996). Lack of sleep is accepted as a part of high school. We've all seen our classmates fall asleep during a history lecture or video. The problem is that students are forced to stay up most of the night finishing projects and papers or studying for their tests the next day. Some argue that if teenagers would manage their time better, they could sleep enough at night, but with the competitiveness of students and the many activities they are involved in, they don't have a lot of time left.Sleep loss can take a devastating toll on the mind and body at any stage of life, from early childhood to older adulthood. But for teenagers, who are at a critical stage of development, skipping out on sleep can be particularly dangerous.In the teen years, when development continues the sleep deprivation effects of brain and body development are significant. Naps in school are usually frowned upon, but it

To summarize, this article gives many valid points about how teenagers lack sleep, but it also gives numerous factors from an adult's point of view. Frank Bruni states that getting enough sleep each night makes for a healthy teen and a sane teen as well. The author provides numerous times that a student should not be negotiable with sleep; sleep should be a baseline for adulthood. Another valid point Bruni makes is students are very hyped up with cell phones and other electronics, but with that statement, there are also students who are up because of the amount of homework they are given on some nights.

Sleep is very important for doing well in school due to the energy that is gained by the sleep overnight. Veronica Hackethal , an author of an article of sleep, stresses the importance of sleep having the ability to let students gain energy when she discusses how students that feel tired and sleepy all the time tend to get lower grades than students who do not feel that way. This expresses the idea that enough sleep helps improve grades because it proves that students who sleep well will get more sleep, gain more energy, and perform better for the next day of school than the students who do not sleep as well. This also proves that students who do not get enough

Students are the adults of tomorrow, yet policy-makers keep denying them the amount of sleep necessary for them to have a good overall health. As a recent graduate from high school, I can personally testify that I did not get anywhere near the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep. Between numerous after school activities I participated in, such as sports teams and clubs, doing homework, practicing musical instruments and still having to go to zero-period classes; class that starts at 7:30, I would be lucky if I got 6 hours of sleep. Poor time-management skills contributed to my lack of sleep, but having classes that starts at 7:30 to begin with is beyond me. For teenagers to wake up so early is literally defying the way their biological clocks are designed and can cause several health conflicts both physically and mentally that can all result in the consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. In this essay, I will be talking about the history and the science of sleep, the several harmful effects due to lack of sleep, then the benefits of getting sufficient sleep and finally, propose a short-term and long-term solution to help high school students receive the necessary 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

On some school nights, I have a rough time trying to fall asleep even though I manage to go to bed early. I twist and turn and eventually pass out at one in the morning. Few hours later, I wake up and experience headaches and stress at home, then a difficult time paying attention and processing information in class. All of these factors were resulted by the lack of sleep, or sleep deprivation. Many more harmful problems can result from sleep deprivation, such as sleep disorders, difficulty driving, and physical and mental effects on students. In which case, students wouldn’t want sleep deprivation affecting their academic grades and education in school. Therefore, students in high school should be allowed to sleep for a longer period of