I think the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush and the School District of Philadelphia should seriously consider adopting later high school start times. Please read the evidence below. Thanks to those who shared their opinions by taking my survey!
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In teenagers, the sleep hormone melatonin doesn't release until 11 PM -- two hours later than in adults and younger children. Therefore, for teens, the core hours of REM sleep -- the type of sleep most associated with learning, memory consolidation, and emotional processing -- are between 5 and 8 AM.[3]
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“Waking teens up at 6 AM is the biological equivalent of waking an adult up at 4 AM because their sleep cycles are shifted by about two hours,” says Dr. Wendy Troxel, Senior Behavioral and Social Scientist at Rand Corp. and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.[2] "Only 1 in 10 [teens] gets the 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night recommended by sleep scientists and pediatricians… 8 hours is the minimum recommendation. You're barely passing. Eight hours is kind of like getting a ‘C’ on your report card."[3]
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However, school schedules dictate that teens should wake up early, conflicting with their inherent biological needs. According to the 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study, 93% of high schools and 83% of middle schools in the U.S. started before 8:30 AM.[4]
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Dr. Merrill Wise, a sleep medicine specialist at the Methodist Healthcare Sleep Disorder Center in Memphis, Tennessee, warns: "We are living with a sleep deprivation epidemic."[6] Troxel adds:
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When teenagers don’t get the sleep they need, their brains, their bodies, and behaviors suffer with both immediate and lasting effects. They can’t concentrate, their attention plummets, and many will even show behavioral signs that mimic ADHD. But the consequences of teen sleep loss go well beyond the classroom, sadly contributing to many of the mental health problems that skyrocket during adolescence, including substance use, depression, and suicide. In our work with teens from LA Unified School District, we found that teens with sleep problems were 55% more likely to have consumed alcohol in the past month. In another study of 30,000 high school students... for each hour of lost sleep, there was a 38% increase in feeling sad or hopeless, and 58% increase in teen suicide attempts... Studies have shown that getting 5 hours of sleep or less per night is the equivalent of driving with a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit.​[3]
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Dr. Terra Ziporyn Snider, Executive Director and co-founder of Start School Later, continues:
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It isn’t just that the kids feel bad; it’s destroying them. It’s setting them up for a lifetime of obesity and diabetes; it’s predisposing them to substance abuse; it’s increasing the risk of car accidents. It’s reducing their chances of maximizing their academic potential.[2​]
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Furthermore, the CDC cautions that teens with inadequate sleep are less likely to engage in daily physical activity.[4]
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"I think [starting classes no earlier than 8:30 AM is] one of the most modifiable factors that parents and school personnel could pursue," concludes Wise.[6]
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Troxel contends:
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There are multiple profound benefits to later start times for adolescents: academic performance, their graduation rates, their ability to show up on time and ready for school, and also their mental and physical health, and there is evidence that not only do later start times improve standardized test scores, but they do so particularly among the lowest performing students. This is really the culmination of about 30 years of research that clearly shows later start times have benefits for teens’ public health and academic functioning. We did an economic projections model and found that a
nationwide shift in school start times to 8:30 AM could contribute $83 billion to the U.S. economy over the span of a decade.[2​]
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"That big savings number even accounts for costs that the schools would have to pay for revamped bus transportation for students and for infrastructure improvements, such as lights on playing fields."[2​]
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Dr. John Cline, a clinical psychologist, Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, and a clinical professor at Yale University, identifies "some potential negative effects associated with later start times and longer sleep periods. It can be disruptive to parents' work schedules, result in shortened times for after-school activities such as sports and clubs, cause students to get home later in the day, and may also impact hours available for after school jobs. These challenges may be more difficult to accommodate in some settings than others."[5]
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Snider remarks, "Community life revolves around these hours, and therefore, when you suggest changing school hours in any direction…the community worries, quite understandably, that their lives are going to change."[2​]
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The CDC cites poor sleep habits, including irregular bedtimes and the presence of electronics in the bedroom, as a contributing factor to most adolescents not getting enough sleep.[4]
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Troxel argues, “Bedtimes may stay the same, but wake-up times get extended, enabling more sleep."[3]
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Snider agrees, "It is true that delaying school start times is no guarantee that adolescents are going to get healthy sleep, but not delaying school start times will guarantee that most of them won’t."[2​]