Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 Academic Final Paper

Imagine having to wake up in the morning half asleep to get ready for another long tiring day at high school. Many teens have to wake up around 6:00 a.m. and for some even earlier just to get ready so you can get to school on time. Research has proven that teenagers need about eight through nine hours of sleep on an average night. A study published in the journal of Adolescent Health shows that about two-thirds of high school students get less than seven hours of sleep per night, and only eight percent of high school students get the nine hours of sleep they need a night. If teens do not get their needed amount of sleep each night then it can affect their health and everyday activities. Just delaying some high schools by one or two hours can dramatically improve many teens grades and their motivation to do well at school. Nancy Kalish, an author from the New York Times says, for the high school starting times that many have today which is around 7:15 a.m., the first class in the morning can often be a waste due to as much as twenty-eight percent of students falling asleep on an average day (Kalish). This is where some say, High school and Elementary school start times should be switched due to the differences in sleep cycles of adolescents and teens. According to Dr. Richard Schwab, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, most high schools start before elementary schools, but if the school starting times were to be based on sleep cycles then the times of high schools and elementary schools would actually be switched (Schwab). In Nancy Kalishs writing: The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade, Research shows that teenagers body clocks are set to a schedule that is different from that of younger children or adults (Kalish). This prevents adolescents from feeling tired until around 12 p.m., when their bodies produce melatonin, and when waking up early in the morning before ones body stops producing melatonin can be unhealthy for a teens body (Kalish). Melatonin is a hormone 1

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 produced by the brain's pineal gland during the night; production turns on in the evening, which makes them tired, and off in the morning which wakes them up. Richard Schwab conducted the study with his daughter Amanda, one of the sleep-deprived teens who attended Harriton High School. I watched her get up early for four years, and saw how difficult it was, Dr. Schwab says (Schwab). Teenagers need more sleep than adults and their circadian rhythms are phase shifted so that their ideal bedtime is midnight to 1:00 a.m.; yet they have to get up at 6:30 or earlier for high school (Schwab). If Schools where to be based on sleep cycles, high school and elementary school start times would be switched. This would make it easier for teens and adolescents to focus at school and over all improving the school community. According to the National sleep foundation, children undergo a shift in sleep patterns when they enter puberty, this causes them to remain alert later in the evening and remain sleepy later in the morning. Dr. Richard Schwab believes this problem would be fixed If high schools were to switch starting times with elementary schools, as one of the options, it would actually improve the learning of elementary students as well. Unlike teenagers, younger children tend to learn better earlier in the morning. Teens are found to be still tired in the morning when they wake up for school. When children wake up for school they are wide-awake and at the best time of the day for them to learn. Some Elementary school parents would complain that this would make their child be home earlier in the day unsupervised. But even with the time schedule for schools we have now many parents still do not get home early enough to make sure their child is ok. Schwab states, that having schedule difficulties for just after school should be better than trying to make arrangements before and after school because of the many jobs requiring parents to leave early in the morning even before a childs bus comes. From this, parents may not like having to make an

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 arrangement for their child due to financial reasons but from this idea, the adolescents parent would only have to be in someones care after school which would be easier than trying to make arrangements before school as well. Also most elementary schools have programs or after school clubs that are almost always free so that can benefit the students parents greatly, if theyre in a financial situation. If the start times were to be switched it would make it easier on the parents of adolescents because they will be able to make sure that their child safely made it on the bus. Also most high school students should be able to be at the bus stop or to drive to school without the assistance of their parents. Latesha Dean says, between sports, a job, and other activities, it might not be until 10 pm until a high school student can start their homework (Dean 6). Homework is important, but some high school students have to work, and things like sports and school activities are important aspects of high school as well. High schools should start later because if the students are not fully awake, they will not do very well due to their differing circadian rhythms, Dean says (Dean 6). Schools should be about students getting the best grades they can get, even if it means just starting school later (Dean 7). By starting school based on sleep cycles it would better the school because adolescents and teens can get the most out of their learning. Allowing teens to sleep in might also contribute to fewer automobile accidents since sleepy teens that drive to school in the morning are more fatigued and have slower reaction times (Dean 2). Valerie Strauss, a Washington Post Staff Writer observed a study on Melatonin levels of teens throughout various times of the day. Strauss says, teens spend a lot of their time each day at school but teens are not able to take in their learning opportunities due to the fact that sleep deprivation impairs ones ability to be alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information (Strauss 1). When sleepy teens have to get up so early in the morning

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 they also may not have enough time to make and eat a nutritious breakfast, if they even have time to eat anything at all. This can contribute to headaches and stomach pains that interrupt concentration levels while in school (Strauss 1). Sleep deprivation in high school students can also lead to misbehavior problems as well (Strauss 2). Sleep deprivation in schools cause the school environment to become dangerous because sleep deprived teens could get in fights or yell at the teacher just because they are not fully awake. Young people who do not get the right amount of sleep each night carry risks such as falling asleep behind the wheel; emotional and behavioral problems like irritability, depression, and violence (Strauss 2). Also, when teens are not getting the right amount of sleep they need each night it can be very dangerous to drive in the morning because of the risk of falling asleep due to all the loss of sleep a teen has from school. This Particular situation has happened to me where I got home extremely late due to having a few hour drive to an away soccer game which game me about a 4 hour sleep due to some homework that I had and also having to wake up at 5:50 so I would be prepared and get to school on time. From this, the next morning I woke up like it was another day but didnt yet realize how sleep deprived I was at that time. When driving to school, halfway there I fell asleep behind the wheel of the car and drove off the road. Luckily I woke up a few seconds after being off the road due to the vibrations of the car and gently drove back onto the road. I ended up clipping the mirror off my car as I had rode through the oncoming traffic lane and off the side of the road to where my right side mirror hit a sign. In this situation I was extremely lucky to have not run into a car in the oncoming lane and not to have been killed or injured in some way. This is only one example of this situation but I can assure that there are worse situations like this where; one doesnt make it out as lucky as I did.

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 From all of these things I find it hard to believe that schools still will not make the switch to overall better ones learning environment. This is why I looked at Mike Severs article that discusses Rootstowns Board of Education decision of not changing school start times until county or state education authorities recommend that districts change their times. He says that even though they did in fact find many outweighing benefits to switching times that the idea did not rally enough support from the surrounding community to take it into action (Sever). I believe that it didnt in fact rally enough support because most teachers and parents like it how it currently is and are not in favor of trying out new things possibly in fear of effecting ones job even. When looking at my Primary research, which I had conducted, I created a survey on a small group of students that are still attending my high school that I had previously graduated from. From this I found that 83% of the people I surveyed had stated that they have fallen asleep at least once in their high school career within their first block due to being tired and not being able to focus. Also another interesting thing I found was that my survey coincided with that of Nancy Kalishs research because I found that about two-thirds of the examined group stated that they feel like later in the day is when they feel that they learn the best. From my two major questions that I had given out, I received an overwhelming amount of results which backed up my argument of changing school start times based on sleep cycles of people at certain ages. Also when looking through this there will still be questions on Why dont students just go to bed early? For my personal answer: If I even try to go to bed at a decent hour (8-10) I would just sit there in my bed tossing and turning because at that very moment my body isnt telling my mind that Im tired because my melatonin hasnt started producing. From this one would be sitting there awake for hours until they actually can fall asleep which would end up being around mid-

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 night to 1a.m., and sometimes even later. There are many reasons on why High schools should switch starting times with elementary schools due to ones ability to process things at certain times throughout the day. Many say otherwise that teens just have bad habits and that is why they are so tired in the morning. Letting teenagers sleep in is not babying them. It is simply biology. The teenage sleep cycle is set to go to bed and get up later. By setting the time for school later, students should be more awake and alert. Telling students to take a test or be alert and attentive at 7:00 is like telling an adult to make important decisions at 4:00 am; it just will not make sense at the time.

Matthew Crusse ID# 800770414 Works Cited Dean, Latesha. "High School Start Times: How to Get Them on the Same Schedule as Adolescents Biological Clocks." The York Scholar, Fall 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Kalish, Nancy. "The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade." The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Schwab, Richard, Dr. "Start School Later in the Morning, Say Sleepy Teens." American Thoracic Society, 20 May 2007. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Sever, Mike. "Rootstown School Board Says 'no' to Change of Class Start times." - The Record Courier. N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Strauss, Valerie. "Schools Waking Up to Teens' Unique Sleep Needs." The Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.