High Schools and Middle Schools NEED to start LATER
The Issue
Problem
The problem in quite simple - both high schools and middle schools start too early. Most teens do NOT get enough sleep, and the value of sleep is being under-appreciated. Adolescents need about 8-10 hours of sleep per night, and less than 33% of students actually get this much. Without enough sleep, according to many studies, student's may suffer from symptoms of depression, be overweight, not engage in physical activities, take part in unhealthy and illegal habits (eg. smoking, drinking, etc...) and perform poorly in school. It can also increase the amount of focus and concentration a student is able to contribute during school, along with improved mood and health.
One main solution to this problem that anyone would say is, "Go to bed earlier." There are problems with this. For one, most tweens and teens are going through puberty, in which their biological circadian rhythms shift to make teens naturally sleepy later in the night, thus forcing them to the need of waking up later in the morning. Yet, they still need the same amount of sleep, if not more, in order to account for their changing bodies. This value tends to be around 9 hours for most teens so they can feel both alert and well-rested. It's hard to change this, and changing adolescents' natural sleep cycles may result in making this transition time hard on themselves. They'll stay up later to get their work done, due to the demanding workload of secondary schooling, and waking up in the morning, they'll use caffeine or nicotine to help them feel awake. By the end of the week, students are so tired that they use the weekend to catch up on their sleep. Yet, this only throws off the sleep cycle even more. This makes it harder to wake and fall asleep on time in the upcoming week(s).
Teens make up a good percentage of their community, and it's also in their teenage years where they have to make a lot of their major life choices and what type of person they want to be later in life. If they don't get enough sleep, they won't have the energy needed to be successful in school, as one thing needed in order to be successful is good health, which has to come first. Teens also start competing for sleep during their secondary schooling years, especially with the high, demanding work that needs to be completed for their success. They may also have many other activities they are an active part of, such as extra-curricular activities, volunteering, and maybe even a job. And of course, every person needs time to lay down and relax, either by themselves or with their friends. With all of this competing with sleep for time on a teen's plate, sleep is most likely the activity that loses this battle. It doesn't help when school starts the next day, bright and early, interrupting students' sleep. This loss of sleep makes it a struggle for students' to wake up in the morning, pay attention in class, and feel awake and alert throughout the day.
Solution
One main reason why middle schools and high schools start earlier is because of the amount of busses that districts have. After completing rounds for the middle schools and high schools, they do the same for elementary schools. One solution could be to switch times with elementary schoolers. This would work well, since elementary schoolers naturally wake up early in the morning. This differentiates from teens and young adults, since through puberty, biological sleep cycles shift to being sleepy later in the night and thus need to sleep later into the morning.
The CDC recommends that schools start after 8:30, since most teens' circadian rhythm signal awakeness around 8 am. Yet, less that 20% of the schools in America follow the CDC's recommendation, due to the amount of money the district has and the number of school busses needed to transport everyone at once. This is why the best solution to help districts save money would be to switch the time with elementary schools so the amount of busses needed stays the same, students still have time to get enough sleep, and schools have enough time to allow after-school activities and sports programs.
Personal story
My name is Haritha, and I am a freshman at Farmington High School. I am involved in many activities both inside and outside of school, and one thing that affects me, and many others of my age, is the lack of sleep.
Every morning, we are forced to wake up at 6 in the morning, when sometimes, the sun has not even risen yet. We wake up, get ready, and by 7:30, we are in our first class starting our day, both groggy and sleep-deprived. It becomes difficult to concentrate in my classes. If anybody asks me how I'm doing, 99% of the time, my answer is "I'm so tired." The same goes for every student I do ask that question to. During that time of the day, the only thing that I wish for is to be able to just drop down and sleep, cause truthfully, that's the only thing I need.
When I get to my first class, I'm so sleepy that nothing gets into my head, and I'm too tired to do any work. Thus, I'm forced to be a little lazy with my work during school, and I make it up after-school, when I feel less tired and my brain is more active. This feeling not only lasts through my first class, but all the way up to noon. In that case, I only have lunch and two classes left where I can really pay attention, and then after that I have to go to my in-school after-school activities before I can go home.
Once I go home, I feel so tired from not getting enough sleep the previous night that I go to bed to take a nap. Sometimes, it may last 15 minutes to 2 hours, but after that, I know I need to get up so I can get my work done. Both my homework, and the work that I was too tired to finish back in school. I finish about half of that before I have to go to another activity. I go, come back, and then resume to finish the rest of my homework.
By now, I'm far more awake than I was in the morning. I feel awake around noon time all the way till the late night, which makes sense, since that's a typical teen's natural biological circadian rhythm. When I'm more awake, I feel more ready to learn, less depressed, obviously less tired, and the ability to concentrate more.
Soon, I finally go to bed after finishing all of my work, and most of the time, this time in around 11-12 at night. Unfortunately, I have to wake up again at 6 in the morning, as the cycle continues for the rest of the week. By the weekend, I'm so sleepy that I sleep at 10 on Saturday night to wake up at 9 in the morning the next day to catch up on sleep. I still feel tired, due to my sleep cycle being thrown off throughout the entire week. And soon, it's time for a new week, in which the same thing happens again, except sometimes, I can't use the weekends to catch up on sleep, since most of the time, I have other programs scheduled for those days. This cycle does not last one day, nor one week, or one month. This is an ongoing cycle, that for me, has lasted 3 years.
317
The Issue
Problem
The problem in quite simple - both high schools and middle schools start too early. Most teens do NOT get enough sleep, and the value of sleep is being under-appreciated. Adolescents need about 8-10 hours of sleep per night, and less than 33% of students actually get this much. Without enough sleep, according to many studies, student's may suffer from symptoms of depression, be overweight, not engage in physical activities, take part in unhealthy and illegal habits (eg. smoking, drinking, etc...) and perform poorly in school. It can also increase the amount of focus and concentration a student is able to contribute during school, along with improved mood and health.
One main solution to this problem that anyone would say is, "Go to bed earlier." There are problems with this. For one, most tweens and teens are going through puberty, in which their biological circadian rhythms shift to make teens naturally sleepy later in the night, thus forcing them to the need of waking up later in the morning. Yet, they still need the same amount of sleep, if not more, in order to account for their changing bodies. This value tends to be around 9 hours for most teens so they can feel both alert and well-rested. It's hard to change this, and changing adolescents' natural sleep cycles may result in making this transition time hard on themselves. They'll stay up later to get their work done, due to the demanding workload of secondary schooling, and waking up in the morning, they'll use caffeine or nicotine to help them feel awake. By the end of the week, students are so tired that they use the weekend to catch up on their sleep. Yet, this only throws off the sleep cycle even more. This makes it harder to wake and fall asleep on time in the upcoming week(s).
Teens make up a good percentage of their community, and it's also in their teenage years where they have to make a lot of their major life choices and what type of person they want to be later in life. If they don't get enough sleep, they won't have the energy needed to be successful in school, as one thing needed in order to be successful is good health, which has to come first. Teens also start competing for sleep during their secondary schooling years, especially with the high, demanding work that needs to be completed for their success. They may also have many other activities they are an active part of, such as extra-curricular activities, volunteering, and maybe even a job. And of course, every person needs time to lay down and relax, either by themselves or with their friends. With all of this competing with sleep for time on a teen's plate, sleep is most likely the activity that loses this battle. It doesn't help when school starts the next day, bright and early, interrupting students' sleep. This loss of sleep makes it a struggle for students' to wake up in the morning, pay attention in class, and feel awake and alert throughout the day.
Solution
One main reason why middle schools and high schools start earlier is because of the amount of busses that districts have. After completing rounds for the middle schools and high schools, they do the same for elementary schools. One solution could be to switch times with elementary schoolers. This would work well, since elementary schoolers naturally wake up early in the morning. This differentiates from teens and young adults, since through puberty, biological sleep cycles shift to being sleepy later in the night and thus need to sleep later into the morning.
The CDC recommends that schools start after 8:30, since most teens' circadian rhythm signal awakeness around 8 am. Yet, less that 20% of the schools in America follow the CDC's recommendation, due to the amount of money the district has and the number of school busses needed to transport everyone at once. This is why the best solution to help districts save money would be to switch the time with elementary schools so the amount of busses needed stays the same, students still have time to get enough sleep, and schools have enough time to allow after-school activities and sports programs.
Personal story
My name is Haritha, and I am a freshman at Farmington High School. I am involved in many activities both inside and outside of school, and one thing that affects me, and many others of my age, is the lack of sleep.
Every morning, we are forced to wake up at 6 in the morning, when sometimes, the sun has not even risen yet. We wake up, get ready, and by 7:30, we are in our first class starting our day, both groggy and sleep-deprived. It becomes difficult to concentrate in my classes. If anybody asks me how I'm doing, 99% of the time, my answer is "I'm so tired." The same goes for every student I do ask that question to. During that time of the day, the only thing that I wish for is to be able to just drop down and sleep, cause truthfully, that's the only thing I need.
When I get to my first class, I'm so sleepy that nothing gets into my head, and I'm too tired to do any work. Thus, I'm forced to be a little lazy with my work during school, and I make it up after-school, when I feel less tired and my brain is more active. This feeling not only lasts through my first class, but all the way up to noon. In that case, I only have lunch and two classes left where I can really pay attention, and then after that I have to go to my in-school after-school activities before I can go home.
Once I go home, I feel so tired from not getting enough sleep the previous night that I go to bed to take a nap. Sometimes, it may last 15 minutes to 2 hours, but after that, I know I need to get up so I can get my work done. Both my homework, and the work that I was too tired to finish back in school. I finish about half of that before I have to go to another activity. I go, come back, and then resume to finish the rest of my homework.
By now, I'm far more awake than I was in the morning. I feel awake around noon time all the way till the late night, which makes sense, since that's a typical teen's natural biological circadian rhythm. When I'm more awake, I feel more ready to learn, less depressed, obviously less tired, and the ability to concentrate more.
Soon, I finally go to bed after finishing all of my work, and most of the time, this time in around 11-12 at night. Unfortunately, I have to wake up again at 6 in the morning, as the cycle continues for the rest of the week. By the weekend, I'm so sleepy that I sleep at 10 on Saturday night to wake up at 9 in the morning the next day to catch up on sleep. I still feel tired, due to my sleep cycle being thrown off throughout the entire week. And soon, it's time for a new week, in which the same thing happens again, except sometimes, I can't use the weekends to catch up on sleep, since most of the time, I have other programs scheduled for those days. This cycle does not last one day, nor one week, or one month. This is an ongoing cycle, that for me, has lasted 3 years.
The Decision Makers
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on December 12, 2018