Amy White

Sleep times do matter for high school students. (graphic created on Canva)

High schools should not be allowed to start before 9:00 A.M., and here’s why. According to Nationwide Children’s Hospitals, once puberty occurs, teens’ internal clocks are set off by two hours. This means that if a child once fell asleep at 8:00 P.M., they can no longer fall asleep until 10:00 P.M. The same applies to the morning, when teens are waking up.

For example, Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, Colorado, starts school at 8:05 A.M. Most high school students do sports or extracurricular activities, which leads to coming home late. After dinner, showering, and homework, lots of students don’t go to bed until at least 11:00 P.M. Then, after staying up late, students have to wake up at around 6:30 A.M to get ready and go to school.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the average teen needs 9-9.5 hours of sleep per night. This current schedule is only giving the student 7.5 hours of sleep, assuming that they fall asleep immediately at 11 P.M and don’t wake up before 6:30 A.M. The body repairs itself through sleep, and without getting enough sleep, teens are more likely to have mood issues, infections, and problems with focusing. Not getting enough sleep can affect both grades and the social aspects of school. Without enough sleep, it is difficult to focus in class and have lively interactions with peers. This makes school very difficult for a lot of students.

Most schools encourage students to involve themselves in sports and extracurricular clubs and activities, but how do they expect students to complete homework, have a job, do a sport, and sleep all in one night, and then do it all again the next day? So, after all of this, most students are getting a short break on the weekend and then are expected to keep up with grades and clubs while being sleep-deprived. The expectation for students to complete this amount of work is completely unrealistic and unhealthy. School is meant to teach students not only how to solve equations but also how to succeed in the real world, giving students this much work and no time to complete it without teaching time management or how to put their health above their school work is unrealistic and is not going to help students succeed later in their lives. What this is teaching students is that it is normal to stay up late into the night completing assignments rather than giving their mental and physical well-being priority over that. This leads to overworking as an adult and not knowing the correct way to time-manage or the correct way to take care of themself.

Many schools have adjusted their schedules to later start times and have made succeeding in school a lot easier for many students. Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado, starts school at 9:05 A.M and although students may not be getting home until later in the evening, they have more time to sleep in the mornings than a large number of high schools in the U.S. If a student is still going to bed at 11:00 P.M they will most likely get between 8.5 and 9 hours of sleep, which is much healthier for adolescents. Having a later start time gives students the option to complete work in the morning or get more sleep so that they can stay more focused and mentally prepared at school. This also leads students to have more energy and leads to more effort being put into school and extracurricular activities.

Getting enough rest as a teen is very important, and schools don’t realize how much start times and workloads can make a difference in the health and well-being of many students. All adolescents should be getting around 9 hours of sleep, and if schools have the option to make this more achievable, then there should be zero hesitation in changing the schedule. If students can get more rest, then there is a likely chance that they will have better grades and more energy during the school day. This would not only benefit the students, but also the teachers; there would be less tired and moody students in their classes, and the teachers would have more time before school to make lesson plans or prepare for the day.

Ultimately, schools should be putting more thought and effort into creating a healthy environment for their students where they feel prepared and less stressed. Sleep is important, and it can change a lot for a single person’s health if they are getting too little rest. Later start times are important and schools should always take sleep into account when creating a schedule for the new school year.