School starts too early

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The average start time for schools across America is 8 a.m. But is this causing some teens’ grades to suffer? It is a question that has not gone away but now there is scientific research piling up that claims it is true.

It is difficult, if not impossible, for most teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m. because their bodies are still awake, according to Kidshealth.org. Yet middle schools and high schools are still starting at 8 a.m. which starts cutting into sleeping time. Teens need at least 8 hours of sleep, but according to the National sleep foundation a recent survey found that only 15% of teens said they got this much sleep.

There is no reason to be starting school so early if most of the students are not even learning until a few hours after school has started. Sleep is important to having both good mental and physical health. Loss of sleep has been linked to having control of your moods, obesity, depression, drug use, as well as heart disease and cancer according to ABC News.

Schools should start at 10 a.m. and get out at 5 p.m. Students doing sports could be home around 9 at night, eat dinner and do their homework and be done about 11, be going to sleep about midnight which is usually about the time teens are ready for bed anyway. They could be awake by 9 a.m. and have plenty of time to get ready for school and be getting over 8 hours of sleep.

Overall, teens need more sleep and their exhaustion is distracting their learning. The lack of sleep of teens across America needs to be addressed. Students education and health is being put at risk.  “The evidence is clearly mounting both in terms of understanding the repercussions that chronic sleep loss has on the health, safety and performance of adolescents, and there is also really solid compelling data supporting the fact that delaying school start times is a very important intervention that can mitigate some of the impact of sleep loss,” Dr. Judith Owens said.