Schools are known to start early in the morning ranging from between 7am to 8am. This is because the early start allows less traffic when getting to school and more school buses get to have multiple runs to other schools. However, this schedule is proven to also be harmful towards students’ well-being, which proves that schools should at least start an hour later.

According to NPR Health Shot, teenagers’ brains shift their schedules, so rather than going to bed at 8:30 to 9 pm like elementary and middle school students, high school students tend to feel sleepy around 10 pm or so. This causes less hours of sleep because of the early times that schools start, which can easily and negatively affect students.

Some would say the students are at fault, saying teenagers purposely stay up on their own. This, however, is not always the case, and it’s actually most of the time because of the large amounts of schoolwork and projects schools expect students to have done by the next day with what time they have left to relax once they get home. It’s especially harder on the students who have jobs right after school. Lack of sleep from this can cause mental health issues, and possibly increase depression in students. Grades can quickly get worse, and classes and schoolwork can become more stressful and pressuring than they already were, which doesn’t help improve the student’s mental health at all.

Waking up so early can cause safety issues as well, especially for those who are walking to the bus stops. Most bus stops are farther away from students’ homes than others, increasing longer walks. With daylight savings time every year too, the mornings start to get darker, and it makes it an unsafe environment for students who are walking to the bus stop on their own.

This is why schools should start at a later time. It can help improve mental health and safety. But it seems all schools care about is saving money and having a perfect scheduled system without paying attention to how it affects their own students’ well-being.