Why High Schools Should Start School Start?

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Day after day students have to drag themselves out of bed extremely early in order to make it to school on time, and as students get older, schools start even earlier and it makes them more exhausted than ever. Many schools around the country start before the recommended time of 8:30 am, particularly high schools which start the earliest. Starting school so early takes a toll on adolescents’ health, sleep schedules, and concentration, which can result in poor academic achievement and safety issues. High schools around the country should push back their school start times in order to provide safe and healthy conditions for students and boost their academic performance. Adolescents need about 8-10 hours of sleep a night in order to be getting a full night’s sleep; however, majority of high school students don’t get anywhere near that. If a student went to bed at 11 pm they would have to sleep until about 7:30 am for an adequate amount of sleep; however, according to the CDC, almost 70% of high-school students report sleeping 7 hours or less on a regular basis. One reason high school students struggle with getting enough sleep has to do with a hormone in their body called melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone which helps control one’s sleep and wake cycles, but as children approach and begin going through puberty the melatonin in their body starts being produced on a delayed schedule. Therefore, adolescents have a hard time falling asleep or even feeling tired before 11