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Changing School Start Times

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Schools should begin their daily start times later in the day since the current system affects students negatively, however there is an easily implemented solution that benefits the student. Students daily, everywhere, have to constantly put their bodies to the test waking up every morning earlier than they should. There’s an internal clock that our bodies use to make us go to sleep, it’s called The Circadian System. The circadian system communicates with our body, more importantly the metabolic demands of our sleep cycle (Argenti 29). The circadian system is what makes the body tired at night, and what wakes the minds up in the morning. However, teens have to wake up for school earlier than their bodies tell them to. “When your circadian rhythm …show more content…

Changing the start time of a school involves many people including parents, teachers, students, principals, school boards, superintendents, counselors and healthcare professionals, (“Background”). The first problem with changing the start times is getting everything rescheduled. Student transportation, sports, other miscellaneous extracurricular activities. “Changing school start times can be challenging for school districts. Administrators have to delay busing schedules. Coaches worry about scheduling practices and many parents rely on the current start times for reasons such as child care or carpools.” (Snider) “Meanwhile, time spent in organized sports and other activities has risen dramatically. But experts warn that there is a limit to how much activity kids can handle.” (Kiesbye 44) Unfortunately the best way to get students ready for the next day right now, is to have them go to sleep earlier. With sports, homework, and late-night jobs however, this is a problem. “It makes sense to look at school start times, which start the rhythm of the day for students, parents, teachers, and members of the community at large,” (“Background”). Pushing back the start time half an hour later however, decreases a very large portion of teens’ “sleep debt.” “A University of Minnesota study demonstrates the impact of pushing back school start times… It found that students benefited by …show more content…

“Like good diet and exercise, sleep is a critical component to overall health,” (“How Much”). Sleep is an essential to every person's’ health. Especially young kids. A better sleep schedule comes with an stable immune system, an increase in healthy growth, and also better blood-sugar levels and a decreased risk of obesity. There have also been improvements in attendance, alertness, and student-reported depression. Advantages for teens to get the current amount of sleep include; higher GPAs and a lower risk of drowsy driving. (Snider) With the constant need to be awake during the day, and well through the night, adults and teens alike rely on

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For example, a school in Minnesota pushed back its start time from 7:15am to 8:40 am and saw improvements in attendance, academic performance, and student well-being. Similarly, a school in Virginia pushed back its start time from 7:20 am to 8:45am and saw a decrease in student tardiness and an increase in academic achievement. These examples demonstrate that later start times can be successful and beneficial for both students and schools. However, some may argue that early start times prepare students for the "real world" and that they need to learn how to function on limited sleep.

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School start times are not the only reason many teens are sleep deprived, it can be caused by electronics. Many teens will stay up late on their phones and end up going to bed at around 1:00AM which is very bad for your body. Electronics emit a certain glow that tells the brain to stay up and not sleep. Teens who are up late writing papers on computers or chatting with their friends are effectively creating an even more stimulating environment that will only keep them from being able to fall asleep when they want to. One thing that schools could start to implement is block schedule, it would allow students to have an extra day to complete their homework and the school wouldn 't have to start

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Delaying Starting Time Do you feel exhausted when you wake up in the morning to go to school? Did you doze off in an important class? Consider this: What if schools started too early? Usually High School and Middle School

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The American Academy of Sleep Medicine asserts that early school days lead to accidents along the roads, depression among the young teenagers, and upsurge in poor performance academically for middle and high school students. Teens struggle through the challenge of waking up very early in the morning so that they can be at school at the right time. Research implies that teens should get at least eight to nine hours of night sleep for their good health. Various sponsors such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control have the strong advice on why schools should start later. Nevertheless, by being able to sleep more before school starts, students will be able to become well rested, more attentive in classroom settings, and perform better as learners.

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A later start gives students a longer attention span and a better morning. Obviously this would affect a student’s school performance. In addition, schools with later start times have higher attendance rates. Most students with early start time just ditch school anyway because they don't want to get up. As the school start time starts later, the dropout rates go down as well.

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Teenage years are some of the most important years of a persons life because, in these years, a large amount of physical development occurs; this is why sleep during this time is so important. However, many teens are not getting the sleep that is healthy for them due to the early start times of many schools. Some schools have already taken the initiative to delay school hours to help solve this problem and several systems have been put into place to make this process of delaying school start times easier. Getting the proper amount of hours of sleep per night also benefits GPA, learning capabilities, the immune system, and several other things. Because the early start times of many schools are causing teens to become sleep deprived, the start time of schools should be delayed especially after

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Start Times and Depression”). Because of the lack of sleep students face, it poses serious problems for them the next day inside and outside of the classroom. Countless schools across America start earlier than the recommended

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According to Pasch et al. loss of sleep is associated with lower moods, increased irritability, being unable to cope with day to day task, and the increased likelihood for teenagers to participate in alcohol use. With such early start times making it hard for adolescents to even get near the recommended amount of sleep, they are essentially being set up for failure. Their well being decreases significantly due to a factor that is out of their control. Teenagers already have many stressors in their lives and the lack of sleep adds more problems to their life.

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Did you know that not enough sleep for teens can lead to poor organization, poor time-management skills, and can make them impulsive? People are debating about how teens need more sleep. Not enough sleep isn’t healthy. Even though people are concerned about their children’s sleep, schools can’t always start as late as we want. If schools start later, this can affect after school activities such as clubs and sports.

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Web. 8 Jan. 2018. McKeever, Pamela Malaspina, and Linda Clark. " Delayed High School Start Times Later Than 8:30 Am And Impact On Graduation Rates And Attendance Rates.

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According to the National Sleep Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes public understanding of sleep and sleep disorders, starting school later is an adequate way for students to have a better memory, behavior, attention, mood, and executive function. The National Sleep Foundation states “, A National Sleep Foundation poll reported that 28% of teenagers have fallen asleep in class at least once due to lack of sleep. Negative effects of sleep loss include impairments in mood, attention, memory, behavior and executive function… increase in caffeine use… sleep deprived-teens at higher risk of car accidents.” This means that by just adjusting the time by an hour students are more aware of their surroundings, more focused on what they’re learning, have a better mood, and executive function, and it reduces the amount of sugary snacks they have eat or drink to stay awake.

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Teens spend a great portion of each day in school; however, they are unable to maximize the learning opportunities afforded by the education system, since sleep deprivation impairs their ability to be alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information. Young people who do not get enough sleep night after night carry a significant risk for drowsy driving and emotional and behavioral problems such as irritability, depression poor impulse control and violence; health complaints; tobacco and alcohol use; impaired cognitive function and decision-making , and lower overall performance in everything from academics to athletics. 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 biological changes that put most teens on a later sleep-wake clock. As a result, when it is time to wake up for school, the adolescent’s body says it is still the middle of the night, and he or she has had too little sleep to feel rested and alert. I believe there are pros and cons to starting school at later times , but I think it would help and increase the academics and health in high school students to get more sleep and have a later start time to at least give it a try and compare the differences in start times after a while and see the differences in academics and moods and go by what’s working best for students and allowing them to get the education they need , while getting enough sleep and not harming their bodies

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According to Judith Owens, tweens and teenagers experience changes in circadian clocks that delay the time they are able to fall asleep. This means that with even an established bedtime, students can still wake up groggy. This is important because this fact shows that cutting down on extra activities cannot solve this sleepy dilemma. The only way we can fix this issue is by delaying start times. Secondly, according to researchers in Evanston, Illinois, teens sleep up to two hours fewer on school nights than on weekends.

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Many people argue whether school start times should stay the same or become later in the day. Most students already don't get enough sleep during the night and that can affect their learning experience in school (Wahlstrom). However some positive effects can still come from waking up early in the morning and getting to school around the same time. Although good can come from waking up early in the morning and sleeping in, students still need later school starting times to improve their overall health.

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21% of teen motor vehicle accidents are caused by drowsy driving. Many teens everyday are complaining about their school start times being way too early. Teen tiredness is now considered to be a public health pandemic. School starting at a later time is beneficial because it helps students catch up on sleep. It helps students stay out of trouble.

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