The Affects of a Later School Start for Teens

I am not the greatest morning person. I remember those mornings in high school when I was waking up before the sun came up. There was definitely something about those days. I would have to go roughly ten hours most school days between school and activities. And most of those days, I certainly did not feel like I had all my energy. I would crave the five minute nap before the first period of the day. Some days, I could even stretch that to ten.

But, what if the day started later? I wonder how much different I would have felt. Would I have gone to bed any earlier? If not, how much would that extra time play in me feeling refreshed for the school day?

Well, recently there was a research done and published in the Archive of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The research involved pushing a school day back a half hour for teens to study if there were significant benefits. The obvious features included: sleep, alertness, mood, and their overall feeling. This is the latest study on the subject and this is only a piece of the puzzle on the topic. But as the study and research shows; it is a big piece.

The study featured 201 high school students, who attended St. George's in Newport, RI. The research took place over the first couple months of this 2010 (January 6th to March 6th). The student usually started the day at 8:00am, but that was pushed back to 8:30am. It may have only been 30 minutes, but there was a big difference in the students. The study showed that students were not only getting that extra 30 minutes, but went to bed earlier than before giving them an average of 45 minutes more of sleep. The affect of the winter months was considered on the outcome. Normally, when the weather is nicer; there might be more of distraction for students and they might not go to bed early enough. However, the extra sleep that students were getting was encouraging them to want to go to bed "on time" or early.

I recall barely getting seven hours if I was lucky most night especially senior year. During this study, the amount of students getting fewer than seven hours of sleep a night dropped by close to 80% and the amount getting eight or more hours a night jumped from 16.4% to a whopping 54%.7. I can attest that when I get more sleep I am more alert and aware and generally slightly more happy. That was the case here as well. Students were more alert and did not feel too tired for class or after school activities. Students were happy and more integrated during the day. Students were going to classes and were on time; trends that were not occurring as much before the study. And scores on the Depressed Mode Scale were below the normal average.

With all this information, many might jump up and demand that school days start later if these benefits were to occur. There are no guarantees that are cases will have similar results. Also, there is a political and touchy matter around pushing back a school day. Additionally, will this information trickle into businesses and other areas?

It is tough to say what results and actions might come of this latest study. But one thing is for sure, sleep is an x-factor for all of us. With more of it, we perform better. With more of it, we are generally happier. And with more of it, the days do not seem as long and unproductive.

I was able to perform very well throughout high school with an average of less than seven hours of sleep a night. But, I would have loved that extra half hour of sleep. I would definitely like to see if more studies are done and what the results are. Then, we might have some more tangible evidence to move forward with tweaking the school days. In the end, we want to see students achieve their fullest potential and if pushing the school day back 30 minutes leads to better results; why not do it.