Why Is It Important To Have School Hours

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

Extracurricular activities and late nights lead teenagers not to be fully awake at school. According to the National Sleep Foundation “The roots of the problem include poor teen sleep habits that do not allow for enough hours of quality sleep; hectic schedules with afterschool activities and jobs, homework hours and family obligations; and a clash between societal demands, such as early school start times, and

If an hour and half of school were added every day, students would miss after school activities. Students will miss the fun extracurricular activities. and students won’t get the exercise they need.

One reason teens need to have sleep is because according to Justin O’neill’s the writer of the article Should Schools Start Later? teens suffer with grades. It's important that kids make good

Traditional school schedules affect students sleep patterns by forcing them to wake up early when their body wants to sleep, which leads to sleep deprivation (wol.iza.org). Again, sleep deprivation can lead to lots of negative mental and physical health issues. Npr.org says, “Teenagers are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night, and they need eight to ten.” Because most students do not become tired until around eleven or midnight, they are unable to get the right amount of sleep because the school start times are so early (wol.iza.org).

Their health is affected because students may not be getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep also known as sleep deprivation can include: “weight gain and eating disorders and increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes; reduced immunity; depression; anxiety; substance abuse; mood swings; behavior problems; suicidal ideation; and potential impacts on brain development” (Why). The recommended amount of sleep for growing teens in middle and high school is eight to ten hours a night (MacMillan). The recommended amount of sleep for teenagers is difficult for many teens to achieve because of how early school starts and how late they get home from school related activities the night before. For example, if a student was in basketball they could have practice from after school to five or later, or they could have a game an hour away. After their practice or game they could have a lot of homework and need to study for a test they have the next day. Students then go to sleep late, still having to get up early the next morning and go to school to take that test. The amount of sleep also has to do with the way the teen brain works. Emily Richmond says, “Adolescents’ ‘internal clocks’—the circadian rhythms that control a human’s responses to stimuli and determine sleep patterns—operate differently than those of other age groups. It’s typically more difficult for adolescents to fall asleep earlier in the

Many teenagers are not getting enough sleep and this is often due to early school start times. Adolescent bodies are naturally in what scientists call

In addition, with such high academic demands, extracurriculars, volunteer work, and sometimes jobs the children become sleep deprived without even knowing it. Yuan, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics, says, “They say they are tired, but they don’t realize they are actually sleep-deprived. And if you ask kids to remove an activity they would rather not. They would rather give up sleep than an activity” (Richter). Regardless of where they come from of who they are, most teens don’t sleep enough during the week and sleep in on the weekends to compensate for lost sleep. But, many accumulate large amounts of sleep loss that they don’t sufficiently recover on the weekend and become fatigued when Monday comes. This problem needs to be confronted, but with not much importance in today's society it's hard to make a change like pushing back school start times.

Starting this year, Decatur High School switched their block scheduling to an eight-period schedule. While this allows students to learn from each class every day, it also weighs them down with extra daily stress that would not come from the block schedule. Now that the school has eight class periods every single day, students have more homework and less time to do it. With only forty-five minutes per a class period, even teachers complain there is not enough time for them to meet their daily teaching criteria, resulting in more homework for the students and less time to learn the material for the homework. Being a teenager is already stressful, and, with the addition of school and extra curricular activities, it becomes a nuclear bomb of stress. Furthermore, it is recommended by doctors for students to get the standard “9 hours of sleep” at night, however, most students at Decatur High School would prove that teens regularly get only four to six hours of sleep and sometimes even less. The reason being, with after school activities which usually end around 8:00 PM, dinner, and maybe a shower, they’re starting on homework around 9:00 to 10:00 PM. Students who are in advanced courses may spend about 2-4 hours on homework, depending on the subject. That likely puts them to bed around midnight to 2:00 AM. When asking students who are taking advanced courses, most would agree that they have more homework this year, resulting in less sleep. With less sleep and more work,

Imagine sitting at a desk all day listening to a teacher drone on and hand you a worksheet right after that. Well if your school day was 9 hours and 30 minutes instead of 8 hours, then that's what you would have to do. You would be there till 4:30 in the afternoon. Who wants to be there for that with only lunch as a break? Every class would be about 18 minutes longer. Which is why I don’t agree with schools extending the day because it can cause sleep deprivation, result in more kids getting in trouble, and more kids zoning out.

The debate about school start times being too early has been going on for years. However, no matter the final decision, elementary, middle, and high schools will all be affected. The fact that some students are too tired to function so early in the morning, and schools still start early is very appalling. I, personally, feel that school start times are too early. There are numerous obstacles we face in changing school start times, but together we can overcome them.Students need their sleep. When pupils are too tired to focus in class, they do poorly on tests, and this causes low academics. More sleep will allow a scholar to perform better on their exams. “It’s Not a Teens’ Fault- School Starts Too early” says, “ Evidence also… shows that students overwhelmingly perform better academically when they have adequate sleep.” So, if evidence pointed

To begin, school starting as early as it is, teens don’t get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep is affecting the body negatively. Teens usually get six to seven hours of sleep but Dr. Cora Breuner says, “ We truly believe that our teenagers are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night, and they need eight to 10 (Shute).” Sleep deficit is what most teenagers face. Teens try to redress this by consuming caffeine. Caffeinating to get through the day or trying to sleep more on weekends cannot fix this problem (Shute). In fact it makes it worse.

“ I’m tired, I can’t believe I have practice right after school, I want to spend time with my family” these are the voices of children now with the schools time imagine how or what they would be saying if an extra hour and a half was added to school. So now heard that's what the school board is trying to do and I think that shouldn't be happening. I will refuse to ever let the school add more hours to the time because some people have tight schedules , already get very little sleep due to homework, and need more family time.

Teens are so full of potential, so full of life, and so…..sleepy. Research shows that teens do not get the sleep they need on a regular basis. Because of the shift in body clocks, after puberty, it takes longer for teens to go to sleep. This resulting sleep deprivation can produce mood swings, substance abuse such as NyQuil, and immune disorders, as well as busy schedules, exams, and active social lives on top of all this an earlier high school starting times this makes teens suffer from sleep deprivation as well as other health and academic problems (Cline). Teens suffering from fatigue often can’t pay attention

It is estimated that only 15 percent actually get these amounts (Kids Suffer from Sleep Deprivation). This is particularly important for students who wish to do well in school. Dr. Carl Hunt, the director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, is spearheading a sleep campaign. Her philosophy is, “Sleep well, do well.” This is something that shouldn’t be taken to lightly. Sleep problems effect about 70 million Americans of all ages. Teens often have problems with daytime sleepiness. The old idea of early to bed, early to rise isn’t necessarily the best answer. Society is simply asking to much of teens (Sleep experts to teens). A combination of school, work, study and leisure, leaves very little time left for sleep. Being deprived of sleep definitely has an effect on how well students do in school and may be putting their health at risk. College students who stay up all night to study for a test or write a big paper that’s due often have no choice because of the pressures to do well and succeed, but at what price do they pay?