High schools should start later
There is a problem many high schoolers know very well, and it is that high schools start too early. An opposing view may be that students should just go to bed early, but their late bedtimes are not entirely their fault.
According to a research article in Science Advances, “Adolescents typically have a preference to stay active until late in the evening and to wake up late in the morning. This timing of daily activity or ‘chronotype’ is not only a consequence of a change in social life and the use of electronic devices that keep teenagers awake during the evening but is also a result of changes in both the circadian and homeostatic regulation of sleep.”
A survey sent out regarding an average school night, shows approximately 25% of students go to bed at 11:00 and 31% wake up at 6:30. This time leads to 7.5 hours of sleep, falling short of the recommended amount of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation urges that teens need 8.5 to 9.25 hours per night.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said, “[We] recognize insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s middle and high school students.”
Students who do not get enough sleep are being hurt, academically and physically. The health problems are widespread. The immune system depends on sleep, so the lack thereof can weaken the body’s defense against viruses.
Depression and lack of sleep feed off each other. Sleep loss aggravates the symptoms of depression while depression can make it harder to fall asleep. Sleep deprivation causes more frequent mood swings. Sleep loss affects how events are perceived, and thus hindering judgment-making abilities. It also creates issues with memory; during sleep, the mind makes connections, so short and long-term memory are negatively impacted. Concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills are reduced without enough sleep.
A transcript from NPR where Horacio de la Iglesia, a University of Washington researcher and professor of biology, describes a study, “‘Thirty-four minutes of extra sleep each night is a huge impact to see from a single intervention,’ says de la Iglesia. The study also shows a link between getting more sleep and better academic performance. He says sleep deprivation makes it more difficult to learn and to retain new information.”
To fix this, the high and middle schools should switch with the elementary schools. So the high and middle schools would start at 9:05 and the elementary schools would start at 7:40. Most of the students in elementary schools have bedtimes before 10 while in high school and middle school, these are much later. Switching the times would not have a large effect on the younger ones because of these bedtimes. Switching would allow for the number of buses to not change.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said, “[We] recognize insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s middle and high school students.”
In conclusion, due to natural factors, students cannot fall asleep until later times so high school start times need to be pushed back since there are academic and physical repercussions caused by lack of sleep.
