School Start Time and Sleep - 1189 Words

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise, said Ben Franklin. While most experts believe that a teen should get 9 hours of sleep, only 15% get that much sleep. With schools starting as early as 7:00 a.m (School Start Time and Sleep), most teenagers are only getting 7 hours of sleep (Sleep in Adolescents (13-18 Years)). In fact, a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 60% of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, according to their parents, and 15% said they fell asleep at school during the year (School Start Time and Sleep). When entering school, many teenagers look like zombies with their eyes half shut and posture sagging. This lack of sleep causes many problems, both physically and mentally. Therefore, in order to help students throughout the nation, school times should be changed and started later. There is a myriad of reasons which explain why students become sleep deprived during the school timings. For example, students are busy and have to juggle many things like jobs, extracurricular activities, chores, and homework after school (Epstein and Mardon, 2). With all these obligations, people cannot possibly expect students to get to bed on time and receive the needed nine hours of sleep. Even if they could finish their duties early, they are teenagers after all and want to have fun rather than habitually carrying out their perfunctory duties. When they have free time, they go toShow MoreRelatedSchool Start Times And High Quality Sleep999 Words   |  4 Pagescountry is school start times. Deciding the start times for schools is dependent on many factors including bus schedules (Edwards, 2012), biological development (Borlase, Gander, Gibson, 2013; Perkinson-Gloor, Lemola, Grob, 2013), and parental preference (Edwards, 2012; Perkinson-Gloor et al., 2013). School start times are considered one aspect that can affect sleep duration, since they affect wake time. Adequate, high quality sleep is extremely important for adolescents and inadequate sleep can leadRead MoreThe Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Adolescents And The Relationship That School Start Times997 Words   |  4 PagesFairfax County School Start Time: Analysis of the Policy To this point, the emphasis of the paper has been the social issue of sleep deprivation in adolescents and the relationship that school start times have with the issue. The focus now shifts to the evaluation on school start times and the associated policies in Fairfax County schools. Demographics of Fairfax County and its Schools Fairfax County is one of the largest counties in Northern Virginia with a population of 1,111,620 in 2013 (FairfaxRead More The Dangers of Teen Sleep Deprivation: Benefits of Adopting Later Start Times for High Schools3298 Words   |  14 Pagesattendance list, one student gives a deadpan stare, mouth slightly agape and eyes drooping, while another student can’t beat the fatigue and sleeps with his head on his desk as a trickle of drool escapes his mouth. While this comic scene takes place on a Hollywood set, it is not far removed from many classroom situations across the country as Aarthi Belani, a high school student from Minnesota, notes about the 7:20 a.m. chemistry class she took her junior year. â€Å"It was an ungodly hour to be studying chemistryRead MoreHigh School Should Start Later Than Elementary School879 Words   |  4 PagesHave you ever had a restless night of sleep? The feelings of achiness and fatigue overwhelms you the whole day. Now imagine that you slept this was every night. Accomplishing simple tasks would be difficult if one is sleep deprived. Performing at your potential would almost be impossible. In order to get rid of these unforgettable feeling many people would sleep late and go to bed early. But with such early start times for high school many students feel sleep deprived and do not achieve their bestRead MoreLater School Start Times Essay1415 Words   |  6 PagesLater School Start Times Everyone has always hated getting up super early to go to school. As children get older they move to different schools, from elementary to middle to high school, and the start times get earlier. In elementary school it was never a problem getting up but getting older, it always got harder to get up and the days were always longer. Schools start so early in the morning that it is hard to focus and students tend to miss more of their earlier classes and attend all of theirRead MoreSleeping During Class Getting A Good Rest Before The Bell Rings1000 Words   |  4 Pagesbell rings.â€Å"Research show that students need as much sleep as they did when they were younger generally 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours each night (Carskadon).† Each night some kids might might not get all the sleep they need. â€Å"Research shows the typical adolescent’s natural time to fall asleep may be 11 pm or later; because of this change in their internal clocks, teens may feel wide awake at bedtime, even when they are exhausted.† Schools should start later because students need 8 hours of rest,there gradesRead MoreDo Teens Need Sleep?1450 Words   |  6 Pages Teens Need Sleep â€Å"For better teen health, push the snooze button on school start times† (Ornes). There are many risks connected to starting school too early that go from health risks to far more things. Even though changing school start times may be costly schools should start later because moving back start times would increase academic performance, lessen health problems , and reduce safety risks. The average start time of schools is 8:03 A.M (Wheaton, Ferro, and Croft 810). 8:03Read MoreGraduation Speech : The National Sleep Foundation1681 Words   |  7 Pagesthe National Sleep Foundation have shown that teenagers lose up to two hours of sleep per night during the school year. A big component of sleep loss is a direct result of the early start times for high school. Between after school sports, work, and homework the average teen does not make it to bed before 11p.m. Adolescents then proceed to wake up before 6:30 a.m. to make it to school on time leaving them with an insufficient amount of sleep. Many fatigued teenagers then come to school and easilyRead MoreHow Sleep Is Needed For Optimum Performance1352 Words   |  6 Pageshigh school career, and as I walked the graduation line, two things kept ringing in my head, â€Å"No more waking at 5:00am, and I no longer have to catch the bus at 6:17am,† which made me really happy. Imagine how many high school stu dents across the United States feel the same after high school or during twelfth grade. Over the years, early school start times has been attributed to some of the reasons why students have been unable to perform well because they have been deprived of sleep. Sleep is anRead MoreAdolescents Today Face A Widespread Chronic Health Problem : Sleep Deprivation1566 Words   |  7 Pagestoday face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity. Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance and health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night, and most report feeling tired during the