w  rd 2 the woss

Recent research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have for first time they weighed in on the topic school start time. They are urging middle and high schools classes to start later in the morning in the hopes of improving the amount of sleep that  adolescents are getting on a regular basis.

 

 

These recommendations are coming a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urged schools to adjust start times so youth can get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep which is the recommended rest time for people in this age group. They also recommended that “middle and high schools should aim for a starting time of no earlier than 8:30a.m”.

 

 

According to the CDC, in more than 40 states, 75% of public schools start earlier than 8:30 a.m. The reason for this push to start later is because adolescents' internal clocks or their circadian rhythms (the part of the brain that controlsresponses to stimuli and determine sleep patterns) operates differently than that of adults. It is on average harder for adolescents to sleep earlier in the evening than it is for other age groups. This results in later sleep times in the evening and earlier waking times in the morning.

 

 

Both AAP and the CDC refer to significant risks both mentally and physically that can come from a lack of sleep. These include but are not limited to an increase in symptoms of depression, mental instability, lack of engagement in physical activities, an increased participation in unhealthy risk behaviours such as drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using illicit drugs. There is also a higher risk of obesity in young people. These consequences not only result in poor school performance but also in a lower quality of life.

 

 

Snider, a medical writer and mother of three states,“Social norms are the root of the problem- most people don’t take [adolescent sleep deprivation] seriously and don’t see it as a public-health issue ... that kind of thinking needs to change”.

 

 

Parents are often disinclined to have adolescents start later, whether it’s because they rely on having an older sibling at home in the afternoon to take care of the younger ones or because they are concerned it will interfere with extracurricular activities. Of course there will always be the advocates for high school sports that warn later start times will negatively affect the games but despite this, none of those worries override the reality, as Corscadden, a professor of psychiatry and human behaviour puts it, “everybody learns better when they are awake”.

 

 

Implementing later start times can be done without major disruptions. It takes some creative thinking but it can be done and if it helps boost school performance and make happier kids why not have a later start time for schools?