Avery As the average teenager knows, getting a fulfilling night’s sleep can be the biggest struggle we face. Extracurricular activities, homework, jobs, and obligations to your family usually keep you awake long after nine p.m., the bedtime “recommended” for teenagers in order to get the “recommended” sleep time of 9 ¼ hours (given you wake up to get ready for school at 6:15). There is an easy solution for this: start school later.
Other than extra activities, why else would it be hard for us to go to sleep at nine p.m.? Key changes in sleep patterns and needs during puberty set our circadian rhythm on a “sleep phase delay”, making the natural sleep onset time around 11 p.m. or later. Regardless of the exhaustion we may really be experiencing, teens will feel wide-awake at bedtime (based on a study done by Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998).
In a study at a summer sleep camp at Stanford, the ‘Multiple Sleep Latency Test” - a test that measures alertness throughout the day - was administered to participants. They showed more alertness at 8 pm than earlier in the day, and even greater alertness at 10 pm. Starting school as little as 25 minutes later is observed by the American Academy of Pediatrics as improving health, decreasing vehicular accidents, and improved academic performance.
On the 25th of August, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement urging schools everywhere to start school at 8:30 or later. Despite this strong recommendation, only 15% of public schools in America start at 8:30. Judith Owens, leading author of the AAP policy and director of sleep medicine at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, cites the ideal start time to be 9 a.m. Some researchers push this to an even farther extreme: 10 a.m. is the most effective start time according to Paul Kelley, a sleep researcher at Oxford University.
One of the downsides to this shift comes from after school activities. Families usually base their work schedules around school start and end times, while sports teams use as much time as their respective school boards allow for after-school practicing. However, research concerning sport-related injuries also supports a later bell time. The average student athlete who gets less than eight hours of sleep has a 70% increased chance of sustaining an injury.
Not getting enough sleep can add even stressors to an already hectic life. Lack of sleep can lead to getting pimples; heightened use of caffeine; potentially fatal drowsy driving; and limit your ability to learn, concentrate, and solve problems. "I feel like I can't pay attention in the mornings," says senior Krista. "I think starting school later would make students more attentive." Sophomore Cassie says she drinks at least two cups of coffee every moring, a habit that started when she was in eighth grade, to help her get started in the mornings.
“Given that the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners," says Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Research Laboratory and professor in Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine. To me, this statement could not be truer. If the function of an educational institute is to capitalize on the potential of today’s youth, why would we then set it to a schedule that is directly detrimental to that development? If it's education schools are really concerned about, after-school activities can be dealt with in time. Maybe Robert C. Byrd will join the ranks of the 15% of forward thinking schools in the nation and push school start time back.
Picture: Junior Justin catches up on much-needed sleep.