Later School Start Time

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The American Academy of Pediatrics states that adolescents need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night (“School Start Times for Adolescents”). Unfortunately, approximately 87% of students get less than the recommended quota each night (“Let Them Sleep…”). Such a large percentage shows that there is an issue prohibiting students from sleeping for the required time period. This issue is an early school start time. Due to these early starts, students are becoming sleep deprived and are not performing their best physically, mentally, and academically, thus school authorities should implement a later start time. Although parents and students have reservations about a late beginning, students will undoubtedly benefit from increased hours of sleep and will become more productive, creative, and healthy people. …show more content…

Sleep is an essential aspect of leading a happy, healthy life, and lack of it can lead to an alarming number of problems. To fully understand the impact sleep has on students, one must know the basics of sleep. While sleeping, the brain has time to process what has occurred that day, form new pathways to help learn and remember information, and improve problem solving skills (“Sleep, Learning, and Memory”). Sleep is the only time when the brain isn’t bombarded by a person’s thoughts and feelings, and isn’t forced to see and hear its surroundings. During deep sleep, the brain releases necessary hormones that boost muscle mass, repair cells and tissues, and promote normal growth (Park). Without proper sleep, the human body can be thrown into a state of disorder that can be incredibly