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High School Should Start Later Essay

694 Words3 Pages

“Please let me be, please go away. I am NOT going to get up today! The alarm can ring, the birds can peep, my bed is warm, my pillow’s deep. Today’s the day I’m going to sleep!” Dr. Seuss's Poem, “I am NOT going to get up today” is a perfect representation of sleep deprived teenagers in our world today. Nursery rhymes aside, this problem of lack of sleep is a serious matter. In fact, according to the CDC, 70 percent of teens aren’t getting recommended hours of sleep on school nights (Insufficient Sleep among High School Students). Recently, the debate about whether or not school should start later has grown tremendously. Some say high schools should push back start times, so students can sleep in; however, school schedules don’t need to change: what should change …show more content…

However, teens’ bad habits more than circadian rhythms are a factor that inhibit concentration and sleep quality. The body releases the hormone melatonin when it is dark out, which causes tiredness. However, teens spend a great deal of time looking at bright TV’s, computers, and phones which “directly inhibits the release of melatonin” (Melatonin and Sleep). Avoiding screens before bed and limiting screen time can help teens fall asleep earlier and not wake up sleep deprived the next morning.
Additionally, the quality of sleep teens are getting is poor, due in part to lack of physical activity in 70% of teens (Terzian and Moore 1). Exercise during the day improves sleep quality at night and “as little as 10 minutes… can dramatically improve quality of your nighttime sleep” (How Exercise Affects Sleep). If teachers provide more opportunities for students to be active during the day by letting students move around the classroom, teens activeness during the day can improve their sleep quality at

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