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Strollerderby
Later School Start Good for Students
An extra half hour of sleep may not seem like much, but for the 200 students who participated in an experiment that pushed back the start time of school by that much, those extra thirty minutes of shut-eye made a huge difference.
In a report published in JAMA’s Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, over 200 students in grades 9 through 12 who were allowed to start school at 8:30 instead of 8:00 showed a vast improvement in alertness, mood and health. Fewer students reported feeling unhappy, depressed, annoyed or irritated. In addition, fewer ended up visiting the health center for fatigue-related concerns.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Judith A. Owens, says that the findings clearly indicate that an age when kids begin to experience biological changes to their internal clocks, getting enough sleep is of the utmost importance.
“If you really need nine hours, and you’re only getting six and a half hours or seven hours, even that extra half-hour can make a big difference.”
According to the National Sleep Foundation, the biological changes that occur during adolescence often cause kids to fall asleep later. But despite these changing sleep patterns, they still need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep each night. But a 2006 poll by the NSF indicates that nearly one-half of adolescents in America are getting far less.
While the study didn’t compare academic performance before and after the start time was changed, it would stand to reason that it would be positively impacted as well. In fact, the administrators at the school involved in the study were so convinced of the benefits of a little more sleep, they ultimately decided to make the later start time permanent.
Why do kids start school so early? Where I live, the elementary students start at a reasonable 9 a.m. while the middle and high school students start much earlier – 7:30 in some cases. I suspect the start times are staggered due to transportation issues, but other than that I can see no good reason to drag kids out of bed at the break of dawn.
Image: whateva87/Flickr
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9 Comments
[...] Later School Start Good for Students [...]
Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes | Strollerderby commented on Jul 07 10 at 9:02 ambob commented on Jul 06 10 at 1:16 pmI think the whole thing is driven by school bus scheduling. Elementary kids seem get the best pick-up times. High schoolers, though, tend to get the earliest slot, standing in the dark waiting for the bus in the morning.
bob commented on Jul 06 10 at 1:17 pmHigh school athletics also probably plays a big part, pushing classes earlier to leave time for practice after school.
bettywu commented on Jul 06 10 at 11:41 pmSports. And the coaches won’t let many districts start later.
Clay Boggess commented on Jul 07 10 at 6:40 amThere is only so much time available to fit in all of the various ativities that high school students are involved in like sports, clubs music. Something has to give though because students need to be at their best when they are in the classroom.
Clay Boggess
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Lala commented on Jul 10 10 at 11:51 amthe younger kids start later so they are not out waiting for the bus in the dark
PrivilegeBoy commented on Oct 10 10 at 12:23 amThey should flip the elementary school schedule with the middle/high school schedule because the younger kids naturally wake up early anyway, while the older kids are always trying to sleep and their bodies are telling them to sleep during later hours because their biology is different.
Debater commented on Mar 29 11 at 10:34 amSchools should not start later because that means that the school will go later into the day. that means that by the time students get home and do their homework they will have little to no day light left. Being that most parents have a rule that students can not play outside until their homework is done this would be a problem. Students might rush through their homework to go outside with friends. This would mean worse grades than they had before. Or students would “hang out” at their friends houses after dark, resulting that they would be up later and get most likely the same amount of sleep as they are now.
Terra Snider commented on Oct 20 11 at 12:37 amI thought you might be interested in a new online petition http://wh.gov/2qJ
at We the People’s whitehouse.gov, asking the White House to promote legislation ensuring a minimum school start time for all students. I’ve been working on a local level to start high schools later for a decade now, and my conclusion is that in many places politics and money are going to keep our teenagers going to school in the dark–unless we set a limit that local systems can work with to ensure than no child, of any age, is going to school at a time that undermines health, safety, and learning. 5000 signatures by 11/2/11 will get a response from the White House, and anyone 13 years or older can sign.
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