McGarvey 1

Alyssa McGarvey

Professor Loudermilk

ENG 1201

14 April 2019

Delayed Start Times at Schools

Could you imagine only getting five hours of sleep every night? Crazy, right? Well, this

is not so crazy for many teenagers. All over the world, millions of students are sleep deprived

and are struggling to do everything in their busy day. This may include going to school, working

at a job, playing a sport, and etc. And when they are finally done with all of their

extracurriculars, they have to do all of their homework. This leads to these students going to bed

late every night and not getting enough sleep. According to Wendy Troxel, one in ten high

school students gets the right amount of sleep, which is eight to ten hours. A major factor in why

students are deprived of sleep is because the start times at school are too early. If schools all over

the world delayed their start time by an hour, there would be a huge impact made. Start times at

schools should be delayed in order for students to get the correct amount of sleep every night.

Without action taken towards this cause, many students will struggle in many aspects of their

lives.

When a student gets enough sleep at night, there are so many positives that come out of

it. They will feel much better throughout the day and not have to worry about feeling like they

are dragging themself around. Students who slept longer at night proved that they performed

better on tests and were less irritable than students who did not get enough sleep. Studies showed

that even the slightest amount of time someone can sleep in more, it can help in many aspects of
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the person’s life. Gaining as little as thirty minutes every night can improve a student’s

education, mental health, and just their overall being (Marx). For a teenager especially, all of

these factors are so important considering they are in critical periods of their lives. Many

teenagers are getting ready to go off to college, and if they are not taking that route then they are

most likely already starting their job. Sleep definitely needs to be a learned priority in their life

because they will need it a lot for the future.

In order for a teenager to learn that sleep is crucial for them, support from others will be

much needed. Many different people in a student’s life, like a parent and school official, can help

a student understand how important sleep is to their ability to learn and their capability of

making wise decisions in and out of school. A parent can do a few things to help their child get

the right amount of sleep. Parents can set a bedtime, make the lighting not as bright, and set a

“media curfew” so technology is not keeping students up late at night. All of these things are

proven to help a teenager get more sleep at night, which will allow them to perform better in

school. Health care professionals can inform and make sure their patients understand the

importance of sleep. School officials can view the benefits of delayed start times for their

students and enforce this in their communities as well (Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention). The support of others really can help make a huge difference in a student’s life.

With the help from these people, a student will be able to learn the importance of sleep and gain

the benefits from it.

Sleep is something that is so crucial to not to just a teenager’s life, but to everyone’s life.

In order for a human or any living creature to survive and function, they need sleep. Overall,

sleep is a very simple thing that occurs, but it actually is very complex and has many different
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aspects to it. The stages of sleep include REM sleep and NREM sleep. These stages are very

important for someone to get good sleep. The time when they go to bed plays a major role in

how they are going to feel when they wake up. To feel refreshed when they wake up, they have

to make sure they wake up after a NREM-REM cycle is over. A NREM-REM cycle lasts about

an hour and a half so they need to time it correctly in order to make sure their sleep is the best it

possibly can be (Cappuccio). Each of these two types of sleep also help and manage different

factors of a body. ​Cappuccio also states that stable physiology like regular breathing patterns,

low heart rate, and low temperature are all related to NREM sleep. REM sleep on the other hand

is very active and includes higher breathing and heart rates, increased blood pressure and brain

temperature and blood flow. All of these things are so important for survival, so getting the right

amount of sleep is very important for everyone.

What is different about sleep between the different ages, is the patterns of sleep. The

older someone gets, the less sleep they need, and therefore they start changing the time when

they go to bed. Robert Marx states that​ teenagers have different sleep patterns than children and

adults. This research shows that teenagers have the pattern of going to bed and waking up later.

Studies have shown that teenagers are not physiologically and behaviorally ready to go to bed

until 11 p.m. but some other studies have shown that a large majority of teenagers become more

energetic at night than they were during the day, which can cause even more issues in a

teenager’s sleep pattern. Because so many teenagers go to bed at a late time, it would be very

reasonable and smart for schools, high schools in particular, to delay their start time. This would

give these students the extra time they need to rest and be ready for the day.
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The effects of early start times and a lack of sleep can be mentally and emotionally

harmful. When it comes to the mental side of a lack of sleep, there are some serious things that

can happen to a teenager.​ Delays in puberty can affect a teenager’s biological clock which can

make them have a hard time falling asleep before 11 p.m. which can affect a student’s mental

health​ (Lamberg). Depression is a huge struggle many teenagers are fighting everyday. Marx

says that depression levels increase when someone does not get enough sleep at night. Many

teenagers reported to have more suicidal thoughts and feelings from not getting the right amount

of sleep and a majority even attempted suicide. A study that had 30,000 high school students as

participant, concluded that with every lost hour of sleep, there was an increase of 38% of

students having feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and an increase of 58% of suicide attempts

in teenagers (Troxel). For a teenager to have to go through this type of mental battle because of

having a lack of sleep is terrible. Schools all around the world need to take these statistics into

consideration and understand that more than likely their own students are struggling from these

types of things as well.

Students can also become affected physically from not getting enough rest at night. ​The

National Institutes of Health stated that sleep is very crucial for someone’s overall health and not

getting enough sleep every night can cause many different health issues to occur. Their research

showed that getting a small amount of sleep can cause health problems like heart disease, high

blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity to occur. These medical problems are not something a

teenager should be getting. There are too many teenagers that are going through this. If teenagers

and school officials learned the detrimental effects that not getting enough sleep can have on a

person, many people would be attempting to go to bed earlier and getting extra time to sleep.
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For most teenagers, grades are very important to them. Grades and standardized tests

determine every teenager’s future. It determines where they are going to college, what area they

will be able to study, and what job will fit their mental ability the best. If a student is lacking of

sleep, this can have negative effects on their grades. Edwards shares how his own study that he

conducted proved this to be a reasonable thing to believe. Edwards did his own research and

came to the conclusion that from changing the start time from 7:30 to 8:30, that helped improve

scores of standardized tests by 2 percentile points in math and 1 percentile point in reading.

Although some people may think that this does not sound like a huge difference, in tests like the

ACT in particular, getting one or two more questions correct can boost an overall score by a

point which can make a positive impact in a student’s life. Every school says that they want their

students to be successful and if that is true, they will consider the academic benefits delaying the

start time will have on their students.

One school took all of these factors into consideration and changed the time they begin

school from 7:20 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. Helping this school’s students to get almost an extra hour of

sleep was shown to help increase their state of awareness of students at school. But because

many schools are starting too early, this is causing a misdiagnosis of

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Students tend to struggle at school from the

lack of sleep which causes this misdiagnosis occur (Lamberg). In order for this disorder to be

diagnosed correctly a student needs to get enough sleep at night. With the help of schools, there

will be less of a chance of misdiagnosing a student who is just very tired with

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). If start times were pushed back, students would

have more time to sleep, which can help them succeed in the classroom and pay more attention.
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For the United States in particular, it is not uncommon for students to have to go to

school at an early time. In fact, the majority of states have early start times. A School Health

Policies and Practices Study shared that out of all of the schools, only 7% of high schools and

17% of middle schools started after 8:30. The study also found that 42 out of 50 states reported

that ¾ to all of their schools began before 8:30 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

These numbers show that way too much of the population of teenagers struggle with getting up

early. Because it is proven that so many teenagers get up early for school, it should be

recognized that a good portion of the country is dealing with the downsides of early start times at

school.

Fig. 1. Chart that shows evidence of the sleep benefits of later start times (“Effect of School Start

Time on Percentage of Students in Each Sleep Category”)

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Many parents hate to see their kids go through this and do the best they can to make sure

their kids get up at the right time for school. Wendy ​Troxel makes it very clear that her son and

many other teenagers go through a lot to get up in the morning by sharing what she and other

parents have to do in order to get their kids up in time for school. She says that in order to wake

up her son she has to physically shake him on order for him to get up. Troxel also shares how

other parents have to yell “Fire!” and even dump cold water on their children just to make them

get out of bed. For a parent to have to do that to their child everyday just to make them get out of

bed is absolutely ridiculous. School officials need to realize that it is not normal to wake up with

cold water all over you or being shook until you wake up. ​Many people end up telling students

that they believe getting extra hours of sleep on the weekends makes up for the lost time during

the school week. This is not true because it is proven that it helps a student’s overall mood, but it

does not help their state of attention (Lamberg). Many people, including students, don’t realize

how tired they actually are and the benefits of a later start time at school.

Schools should not have to delay the time they start back by an hour for there to even be

a huge relief among students. ​Ngan Ying Chan and the various other authors from the “Sleep

Medicine” journal, wrote an article to explain their observational study they conducted on

students in Hong Kong. They tested to see if a delay of fifteen minutes in the start time would

affect the behaviors, moods, and sleep schedule of these students. The participants in this study

are from two secondary schools and grades seven through eleven were involved. In order to

study these students’ symptoms, all of the participants had to take the Hong Kong Children Sleep

Questionnaire and many other questionnaires. These questionnaires asked the students about

their lifestyle practices, how often they drank caffeinated beverages, their sleep schedule, their
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relationships with family and friends, their course load for school, and many more factors that

could affect the results of the observational study. Their study showed that the older the

participant was, the later they waited to go to bed. But this only occurred after the students had

intervention and did not change at all before this occurred. When the whole observational study

came to an end, there was a result the authors came to. Their conclusion was that a fifteen minute

delay can help improve many factors in a students life. These students reported that they had a

higher level of functioning in the morning and throughout the day, they were in better moods,

and they felt more rested when they originally woke up. If a fifteen minute delay in the start time

can benefit a student’s life that much, imagine what a whole hour could do for them. A whole

hour would make a huge difference in allowing for students to be more awake and prepared for

the day.

Driving to school is something that many teenagers have the privilege of doing everyday.

Although it is a privilege, it is also a huge danger to the drowsy teenagers driving and everyone

else driving around them. Teenagers are already known for texting and driving and recklessness

while on the road. Overall, teenagers who are driving are just not as experienced as adults.

According to Morgan, AAA found that 100,000 crashes per year were caused by a lack of sleep.

They stated that changing the time school started for students would allow for students to get

more sleep at night and would therefore cause less crashes to occur. The students that drive to

school are at a much higher risk of getting in a car accident if they are lacking of sleep. This

drowsiness can cause many problems in the car and with a student’s ability to make logical and

good decisions out of school.

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Many students tend to get involved with alcohol and drugs because of their lack of sleep

is causing their decision making abilities to become impaired. ​Walstrom stated that after

teenagers got eight or more hours of sleep every night, the use of illegal substances like,

cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol decreased from fourteen percent to eight percent. With sexual

activity and depression, it decreased from eleven percent to nine percent. These activities that

teenagers engage in are all things that occur out of school due to not getting enough sleep.

Besides a student not being able to perform at the best of their ability in their academics is not

the only thing that happens from sleep loss in school. ​In a school, bullying is something that is

common for students with insufficient sleep to engage in. Also, many students have behaved in

school violence activities and have caused physical fights with other people while in school.

Unintentional injury is also something that students deal with from their duration of sleep being

short (Wheaton). If schools had later start times, students would get more sleep and the crimes

that occur outside of school would have less of a chance of occurring. According to Cariney,

after research was conducted statistics showed that crimes committed by teenagers mostly

occurred during hours after school was let out. This implied that if school start times were

pushed back the gap to commit crimes would become smaller and the crime level would go

down. Most teenagers do not intend on hurting themselves or others, but their lack of mental

stability and awareness causes them to make these bad decisions. If school officials want their

students to stop participating in these activities and stop causing harmful events to happen in

their school, then they should consider changing the time their school starts. An early start time

is not the only reason a student may do this, but it could be a big factor and underlying reason.
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Although postponing the start time of school does have its benefits, there are some

factors that make this not a good option for some people to consider. Many parents believe that a

later start time would not work for them or their child. One reason a student may not be able to

consider going to school later is their parent’s schedule not allowing for their child to go to

school later. Parents get to see their children when their school starts at 7:30, if that changes to a

later time, parents will not be able to see their kids in the morning to make sure they get to

school not actually take them to school if it is necessary (Morgan). Parents would just have to

hope that their child wakes up on time, eats breakfast, and has everything they need for the day if

their child’s school time got delayed an hour. Although some people may argue that a teenager

should be capable of doing this, it may be hard for them to have that responsibility because their

parent has done it for them their whole life. If a school does decide that changing their start time

is the best option for them, then they should see if the majority of parents are okay with making

that change.

Another reason that later start times may not be a good decision for a school to participate

in is after school activities. Both parents and students have a hard time giving up the extra hour

of a sport, a job, or any extracurricular they participate in. Many students love to play their sport

and are depending on it to get into a certain college. If school started later, they would have one

less hour to practice and have a disadvantage to the other students at other schools that went to

school early. Having one less hour to practice a sport would also mean that there is one less hour

to study for tests and do homework. For students who care about doing well in the classroom and

doing well in their sport, starting later is something that they would not want to do (Morgan).

Many people believe that this reason is big enough to just through out of the window without
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even considering it. Delaying the start time of school is a decision that should include parents

and students, considering they are the ones it affects the most.

Teenagers go through so much throughout high school whether it be bad grades, lost

friends, bad mental health, and much more. Sleep should be something that teenagers can go to

to relax and have a break from their lives. It also is something that they cannot survive without

and it allows them to be the best version of themselves. Without it, it can cause some harmful

things to happen in many aspects of a student’s life and schools can fortunately help this.

Although there are some setbacks to starting school later, the benefits outweigh them by a lot. So

if you were the one to decide whether a school started later, would you do it?

Works Cited

Cappuccio, Francesco P., et al. ​Sleep, Health, and Society from Aetiology to Public Health​.

Oxford University Press, 2018.

Chan, Ngan Yin, et al. “Impact of a Modest Delay in School Start Time in Hong Kong School

Adolescents.” ​Sleep Medicine,​ vol. 30, 2017, pp. 164–170.,

doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2016.09.018.

“Delaying School Start Times.” ​National Sleep Foundation​,

www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times.

Edwards, Finley. “Do Schools Begin Too Early?” ​Education Next​, 19 Feb. 2019,

http://www.educationnext.org/do-schools-begin-too-early/.
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Lamberg, Lynne. “Could Later School Start Times Improve Adolescent Health?” ​Psychiatrics

News,​ American Psychiatric Association,

psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2017.8a15.

Marx, Robert, et al. “Later School Start Times for Supporting the Education, Health and

Well-Being of High School Students: a Systematic Review.” 2017,

doi:10.4073/csr.2017.15.

Morgan, Leigh Ann. “Pros and Cons of Later School Start Times.” ​Everetts D​,

www.everettsd.org/cms/lib07/WA01920133/Centricity/Domain/2847/Later School

Times.pdf.

“School Start Times.” ​WCSD Proposed Change in Start Times,​

sipenididuna.motorcarsintinc.com/school-start-times-98985ny8592.html.

“Schools Start Too Early | Features | CDC.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,​

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 July 2018,

www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html.

Troxel, Wendy. ​TED​, TED,

www.ted.com/talks/wendy_troxel_why_school_should_start_later_for_teens/transcript?la

nguage=en.
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Wheaton, Anne G, et al. “School Start Times, Sleep, Behavioral, Health, and Academic

Outcomes: A Review of the Literature.” ​The Journal of School Health,​ U.S. National

Library of Medicine, May 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824552/.