Teens Need More Sleep

Being a teenager is hard. Being tired and sleep deprived in school doesn’t help anything. Have you ever wondered why you come to school each morning so tired? Well, the answer is a biological shift. “Biological shifts during the teenage years drive the need for longer sleep durations and later wake times, research shows. That means requiring an older teenager to wake up at 7 a.m. is like asking a teacher to wake up at 4:30 a.m.” says Education Week.

Basically, there is a biological shift in an adolescent to their internal clock by about two hours, so if a student was able to get to sleep by 9pm in elementary school, in middle school they won't be able to get to sleep until 11pm most nights. This means that middle school should start two hours later in the morning, so teenagers can get the 9 hours of sleep each night that they need. When a child does not get enough sleep they will experience irritability, lack of focus in school, short attention span, bad decision making, and low academic performance.

Seattle Public Schools voted in November of 2015 to change school start times in high schools, most middle and K-8 schools to 8:45am, four K-8 schools and one middle school to 7:55am, and the remaining K-8 and elementary schools to 9:35 am. A group appointed by the district did a study over seven months and recommended an 8:50am start for high schools, an 8am start for elementary schools, and a 9:40am start for middle schools.

As a student, I know from experience that it is hard to focus on school work when I am tired in the mornings.Although, I believe that we can change the start times in our schools and make students more well-rested and ready for their day If parents, students, and teachers band together to try and change this issue we can change our reality and get enough sleep to be the best we can be at school.

#OrliFeder