Sleep Deprivation In School

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From kindergarten to high school, students go to school 180 out of the 365 days in a year. From Monday to Friday, students dread going to school for eight hours, learning a multitude of subjects. Some students participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, tutoring, and extra classes causing the school day to feel very long and tiring. Growing up many students have heard or mentioned a series of complaints about school such as: it’s too long, it’s too tiring, it’s too much work, it starts too early, and it doesn’t have enough breaks/holidays. One of the most common complaints is about being tired and about the early mornings; many want to push back the time school starts. But, although many students constantly wish for their school …show more content…

Scientists have discovered that in order to perform problem-solving, memory, and attention skills, efficiently, students need an adequate sleep of about nine hours. A board-certified sleep specialist Russell Rosenberg stated that, “Numerous studies have demonstrated that delayed school times are associated with an increased total sleep and academic performance.”(Page 1, left side article) But, how many different schools and region did they check, when did those students usually go to bed, how much homework did they receive, how long did their homework take, and how did this change in time effect their extracurricular activities? All these questions factor into the outcome of these studies and can vary greatly. Personally, as a student who participates in extracurricular activities and has started school both at 7:25 and 8:27 am, I can honestly state that there was no difference in my grades between those two years. With an earlier start time I was able to leave earlier, giving me more time to efficiently take part in extracurricular activities and get an adequate sleep. Not only do school start times need to stay the same because of the ripple effect it will have on after school activities, but also because it prepares you for the real world. Many adults are said to function with sleep debt because of the early morning driving to work and the late nights working at the office. If high schools push back start times they would not be preparing students for the future. High school is one of the final steps before entering the real-world and becoming a working adult striving to make a living. Why should schools try to help you slack off and give you an easy way out when the future real-world is so