Essay On School Start Times

Even before the sun peeks over the horizon to begin a new day, millions of high school students across the country are already climbing into their cars or waiting at their bus stops. The average start time for high schools in the United States is 7:59 a.m., which fails to meet the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommended start time of 8:30 a.m. (“Wake Up to Later Start Times”). Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest school district in Virginia and 10th largest in the nation, recently voted to start their high schools at 8 a.m. for the upcoming school year, 40 minutes later than their current start time of 7:20 a.m. (Shapiro). Fairfax and hundreds of other school districts are still far from allowing their students to obtain the full 9.5 hours of sleep necessary to properly function throughout the day (Lahey). Among other consequences, students snoozing in class are inevitable if schools continue to start their classes as early as they are, far before the professionally recommended time. High schools nationwide should start classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m., as per the American Academy of Pediatrics’ suggestion, to significantly improve students’ physical health, mental stability and general academic performance. Sleep deprivation, which stems from early school start times, directly impacts mental behavior and stability. Adolescents who sleep less are more likely to be depressed or have suicidal thoughts (Cheshire). High school students are especially vulnerable to severe vicissitudes in mental behavior as they go through puberty, and should not have to endure more seemingly unnecessary changes that would affect their already fragile mentality. Teenagers who get less sleep are also impaired in their ability to cope with stress and control impulsive violence, irritability, and general decision-making (“Later School Start Times”). A 2010 study conducted by sleep specialists on sleep deprived teenagers found that a combined 62% of those observed had displayed strong or at least some signs of depression (Harding). The pressure on high school students, on top of their stresses to succeed as they look toward their futures, keeps mounting as they lose more sleep and rise early for school. Unfortunately, sleep is not a top priority as students get older and busier. Students being forced to not be able to put sleep high on their list of things to do puts the job upon the schools to make sure sleep is indeed a priority. This can easily be accomplished by pushing school start times later to assist in ensuring that students are happy to learn in a stable manner and mentality. Mental health is not the only type of health that could benefit from later start times; sleep deprivation has also taken a toll on physical health. Teenagers often cannot go to sleep before 11 p.m. even if they are in bed due to changes in puberty, which delays the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin (Lahey). Combined with early wakeup times due to early class starts, it is nearly impossible to get the recommended 9.5 hours of sleep each night. This lack of sleep can severely impact teens’ physical health, and not solely in the fact that they are simply groggier and more tired the following day. Sleep deprivation is also correlated with obesity. Lack of sleep increases the hunger-inducing hormone ghrelin, …show more content…
Many high school students drive themselves to school, but often do so running on low amounts of sleep. Fatigued bodies can easily fall asleep at the wheel, succumbing to car crashes as they do so (Lahey). While the physical consequences seem daunting to hurdle, they can be fixed with simply more sleep, and therefore, later school start times. After a Kentucky school district pushed back start times by an hour, the average rate of teen car accidents decreased by 16.5% (Cheshire). The easy fix of pushing back start times produces life-saving results on students’ physical …show more content…
“The learning process for teenagers is more efficient if they can absorb and understand material the first time they are taught it.” Engaged, attentive students are those who have gotten a full night’s worth of sleep. If a simple change can bring about educational advances, why are schools not jumping on the chance to push back their start