Your alarm goes off for the fifth time. You groan as you practically fall out of bed; a zombie woken from the dead. You hop in the shower and get dressed as fast as you can. You don’t want to be late for school. You rush out of the door without eating breakfast and barely get to class on time. You sleep through your first period just to get enough energy to barely stay awake for the rest of the day. By the time you get home after NHS service and tennis practice, you crash and go to bed, ignoring the 2-hour pile of homework that has accumulated. High school starts too early in the day, and we have all experienced the effects of this, though it is no fault of ours. It has been proven over and over again that early start times for high schoolers can be detrimental to our health. There is also a correlation that has been established between later start times and higher GPA and graduation rates. Early start times for high school should be rescinded because later start times can improve the quality of physical health, academic performance, and safety for teens. This is paramount because, if implemented, earlier start times will positively affect the lives of high schoolers.
“The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging education policymakers to start middle- and high-school classes later in the morning,” reports the Atlantic. Many sources have come to the agreement that earlier start times are bad for children’s health, including the CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Harvard Medical School. The CDC has linked poor quality of sleep with higher rates of obesity, depression, and motor vehicle accidents. The overall quality of life decreases when teens are sleep deprived. What about schools that start later in the day? Studies by the University of Minnesota have shown that schools that start later in the day showed a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression as well as a drop in car accidents. This should be a no-brainer, we need to implement later start times for our health and the health of our classmates.
For a long time, later start times have been linked with greater academic performance. Anne Wheaton, the lead author and epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Population Health, has stated,“ Getting enough sleep is important for students’ health, safety, and academic performance. Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need.” The aforementioned University of Minnesota study saw a “boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies.” Later start time is associated with high attendance, GPA, and graduation rates. Earlier start time is correlated with poor school performance and a higher risk for depressive symptoms, obesity, cardiovascular problems, risk-taking behaviors, and athletic injuries reports Time Magazine.
The quality of life itself has been improved by later start time. Teens who received a better sleep as a result of later high school start times were significantly less likely to report symptoms of depression, fall asleep in class, drink caffeinated beverages, or take dangerous risks according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Study. These behaviors make the lives of everyday teens safer and less risky. If the start times were moved back just think of the benefits teens could reap. The lives of teens would be safer as a result.
Sleep deprivation is at the heart of many problems that are faced by teens today. These problems range from mental health illnesses to car accidents to obesity. The scary thing is that sleep deprivation is not an uncommon trope among teens. The physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of chronic sleep deprivation are profound. Studies by the Child Mind Institute show that 60% to 70% of American teens live with a borderline to severe sleep debt (Garey, March). Only 8% of teens get the recommended 9 1/4 hours of sleep they need (Garey, May). It is inappropriate for teens to be subjected to early start times and expected to learn and retain information. School starts at a time that is truly unhealthy for the biology of sleep and learning for teens. It is an unnecessary hassle to start school at a time when teens need sleep the most and are least able to learn. In response to these early school times, physician M. Safwan Bad, a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said, “It makes absolutely no sense. You’re asking kids to learn math at a time their brains are not even awake (Szabo).” Teens are sleep deprived because the social pressure of getting up early to go to school doesn’t align with the biological need to get sleep. A teen’s need for sleep changes, but the time to wake up for school doesn’t
The simple fix to this problem would be to implement later start times. But don’t just take my word for it. School districts in at least 21 states have later start times this year than they did last year with the intention of giving students more time to sleep (Fattal). These school districts are reaping the benefits of better mental and physical health as well as better academic performance among their students.
Studies by the University of Minnesota have shown that schools that start later in the day show a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression as well as a drop in car accidents. This study also saw a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies. In contrast, an early start time is correlated with poor school performance, a higher risk for depressive symptoms, obesity, cardiovascular problems, risk-taking behaviors, and athletic injuries (Moore).
The quality of life itself has been improved by later start times. Teens who received a better sleep as a result of later high school start times were significantly less likely to report symptoms of depression, fall asleep in class, drink caffeinated beverages, or take dangerous risks according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Study(Ibid).
School starts too early. By numerous studies associations have been drawn with later start times and better academic performance, better health, academic performance, attendance records and a reduction in mental health symptoms and motor vehicle accidents. When later start times are imposed it is crystal clear that teens have a better quality of physical health, academic performance improves, and teens are safer. We must implement later start times for high schoolers.
Works Cited
“CDC Features.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
30 July 2018, www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html.
Fattal, Isabel. “Why Are Parents Afraid of Later School Start Times?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media
Company, 14 Nov. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/11/why-are-parents-afraid-of-later-school-start-times/545642/.
Garey, Juliann. “Why Are Teenagers So Sleep-Deprived.” Child Mind Institute, Child Mind Institute, 3 May
2018, childmind.org/article/teenagers-sleep-deprived/.
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Moore, Lynn. “Why Do High School Kids Go to School so Early? Because That’s the Way It’s Always Been.”
MLive.com, MLive.com, 14 Dec. 2011, www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/12/why_do_high_school_kids_go_to.html.
Szabo, Liz. “Study: Most Teens Start School Too Early in Morning to Get Enough Sleep.” USA Today,
Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Aug. 2015, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/08/06/teen-sleep-school-start/31212457/.
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Szabo, Liz. “Study: Most Teens Start School Too Early in Morning to Get Enough Sleep.” USA Today,
Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Aug. 2015, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/08/06/teen-sleep-school-start/31212457/.
Garey, Juliann. “Why Are Teenagers So Sleep-Deprived.” Child Mind Institute, Child Mind Institute, 3 May
2018, childmind.org/article/teenagers-sleep-deprived/.
Garey, Juliann. “Teens and Sleep: What Happens When Teenagers Don’t Get Enough?” Child Mind Institute,
Child Mind Institute, 29 Mar. 2018,
childmind.org/article/happens-teenagers-dont-get-enough-sleep/.
Richter, Ruthann. “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation an Epidemic.” News Center, Stanford Medical, 8 Oct.
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med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-deprivation-an-epidemic.html.
