School Start Later

In “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens” by Michelle Trudeau and “High Schools Will Keep Starting Too Early.Here’s why.” by Dan Weissman they both have their own perspectives on life about school starting times and the problems they may bring to the students of high schools.In Michelle Trudeau’s story she says that the starting times for high schools has many students still very drowsy and tired most of the time having them nod off during school instruction.She states that in an average high school 20% of students fall asleep in class on a typical day.Therefore, in need to prevent this from happening teens need more sleep as opposed to them not getting enough sleep from either staying up late or period as some experts say.There are many ways to add additional support for teens and their sleep.

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

Schools should have later start times. Students need more sleep so students do not grow up to have a health risk. This example proves that because According to The National Sleep Foundation “ Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation.” Also students do not perform at their best during school when they are tired. This example proves that because According to education.com “ I

The school day should start later in order improve students’ mental health. Survey results have consistently indicated that middle level and high school students who start school at 7:15 a.m. or earlier obtain less total sleep on school nights due to earlier rise times in comparison to students at later-starting schools. () This is just the beginning of the negative impacts that early start times have on students. By starting school at a later time, students’ brains will function better, their grades and learning increases, and will be more mentally stable.

Before some teens leave home, they are already facing other struggles. Disadvantaged students often suffer academically because of early start time, with counteractive social effects (“Early school start benefits disadvantage kids” 2). In the morning, while students are still lethargic, they are forced to attend classes, when they still don’t have full cognitive functions (Wolfson and Carskadon 12). Later on, after school has ended, extracurriculars start. Grogginess decreases performance in physical activities such as sports, then, as a result, practice becomes ineffective (“Backgrounder: Later school start Times” 1). What does this lead to? Poor attendance, lowered GPAs, and lost scholarships. A survey of Factors Influencing High School Start times confirmed this, “These studies (Baroni et al., 2004; Wahlstrom, 2002a, 2002b) indicate that delayed sleep schedules and early school start times are associated with daytime sleepiness, dozing in class, attention difficulties, and poorer academic performance” (Wolfson and Carskadon 4). This means that in the current situation that most teenagers are in, they are left to make the decision between being well-rested, or participating fully in school. Many choose the latter. However, if schools started later in the day, it could only benefit students’ educations. After delaying school start time, schools reported that

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

The denial of it has been used to torture many times. If you go without for too long, you will experience psychosis-like symptoms, along with long-term memory impairment, impaired cognitive functions, depression, high blood pressure, and probable mortality (a.k.a. death). As a society, not only to we withhold it from ourselves, but we impose an impoverished state on others. The mysterious formula? Sleep.

“zzzzzzzzz’s” kids aren’t getting enough sleep because of early school start times.We need to make start times later so America is not the most sleep deprived nation in the world. I am going to tell you why school start times should be later and what happens when you are sleep deprived. We need to make school start times later so American kids are not so sleep deprived.

Many young students, from the U.S. and abroad, have to wake up at an earlier time in order to get to school. What many of them do not realize however is the effects it can have on their body’s development. Sleep is seen as unnecessary or even pointless to many young children, but as they get older, their appreciation for the act becomes widely apparent. Lots of educational systems all over the country still start school at a time earlier than 8 o’clock in the morning. The developing students who have to wake up at such an early time don’t realize that they shouldn’t have to wake up so early in the morning, and that is because their bodies simply don’t function properly at a certain time and with a lack of sleep. I believe that school start times for students that are in primary and secondary school should start later because doing so will have a positive effect on their overall physical health as well as their psychosocial development.

Schools Start Time “ Waking up a teenager at 7 am is equivalent to waking an adult up at 4 am.” Nobody, teenagers or adults, like to be woken up early, Especially to go to work or school. Schools should start later so kids can focus better, attendance will improve, and health will improve.

“studies show that adolescents who don't get enough sleep often suffer mental health problems” (let them sleep). It's easy to avoid this problem by allowing schools to start later. Schools should start later to allow kids more sleep and reduce stress.

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

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 rarely get that much sleep. When students don’t get adequate sleep it has the ability to affect their attention span, memory, problem-solving ability, and mood(Rosenberg, Russell). Are these students actually expected to pay attention, learn, solve problems, and have an acceptable attitude when they wake up sleep deprived? With a sleep cycle that changes once students hit puberty and an increase in the production of melatonin its nearly impossible for teens to fall asleep before 10:30 p.m.(Edwards, Finley). In my own experience I don’t even get tired until around 11:30 p.m. and barely fall asleep before 12, so it makes it extremely difficult to wake up at 6 a.m. and get ready for the day.

A big reason school’s may enjoy having a later start time, is because it can contribute to the school’s success. A later start time can improve the school’s overall test scores (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). Students can learn their best when they are not tired or drowsy. The School Start Later — Healthy Hours campaign stated that, “Academic improvements have been shown, and overall school climate has been measurably improved when high schools have restored later start times,” (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). The sleep researcher mentioned earlier, Wendy Troxel, said in her presentation that when kid’s are woken up by an alarm, they are literally robbed of their dreams. Dreams are associated with learning development. In order for student’s to use the most of their brains, they need to be receiving the right amount of good quality sleep. Not only do test scores rise, but so does the graduation rate, which is a major problem in today’s generation (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). In contribution to the student success, later start times could drastically improve the school’s success. Later start times have increased attendance around

Students hate waking up early in the morning, especially when it’s waking up for school. Many students earn tarties because they over sleep or don’t get enough sleep. It is scientifically proven that a student’s brain doesn’t fully function until 10:00 am. It is also a proven fact that students need around 9.5 hours of sleep. School starting later in the day would help with tarties, skipping, and sleeping in the classroom.