Schools Should Start Later in the Morning
We have all been there; you find yourself sitting in the dimly lit classroom listening to one of many lectures. You feel comfortable and warm as the teacher’s voice slowly melts into background noise. Every word begins to fade and loses detail and your mind begins to wander. Your vision unfocuses, and only your own thoughts cloud your mind. You can feel your head become heavier and heavier, dreaming about other things and thump! Your head hits the desk. However, the next moment you jolt back to your senses realizing you were drifting asleep. It is not long till you find yourself dozing off again.
Many students have fallen asleep or have nodded off in school before, usually due to lack of sleep. However, there are many reasons why a student may be sleepy. Early school start times have proven to add to this problem.
The recommended school start time is 8:30 AM by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). However, many schools do not start at this time. Instead, they begin earlier or later. As an example: Tallwood’s start time is at 7:20 AM.
This is a problem because most teens will not get enough sleep. A teen’s circadian rhythm is more delayed, leading to most teens being more awake at night. So most teens have a harder time getting nine hours of needed sleep before waking up for school (What’s wrong with an early school start time for teens? – Sleep Education). However, this may not be the only reason teens might not get enough sleep. Late-night activities such as video games, television, homework, and work can also take away a teen’s much-needed sleep time.
The problem with the lack of sleep is that it can lead to many health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and many other mental illnesses. The developing brain of a teenager needs between eight and ten hours of sleep every night (Teenagers and sleep – Better Health Channel). Studies have shown that schools starting after 8:30 AM have better student performance than ones that start earlier (Study: Later school start times linked to improvements in behavior, achievement | K-12 Dive).
Schools should move the start time to 8:30 AM but also avoid conflicts with other important schedules. Despite the potential setbacks, moving the school start time to later in the morning is crucial if schools want to improve student performance.
