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School Start Times

Sleep is an essential part of everyones health. Kathryn Reid compares sleep to
food. Humans require about 1,600 calories a day to live, one can eat a little less and a
little more. However if he or she eats too little or too much, that becomes a problem.
Sleep helps recover the body mentally and physically after a long day. However not
everyone gets enough sleep to effectively keep their body healthy. This condition is
called sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation affects a whole spectrum of people from young kids to adults.
However, young kids and teens are more affected. Younger students sleep more than
older students but still dont get enough sleep (Teufel, Brown, and Birch). According to
the Risk Behavioral Surveillance study, 68% of high school students get less than 8
hours of sleep each night. Teens are sleep deprived in all cultures in the world but they
are most deprived in the United States (Millman).
While mostly all teens are affected, more are affected than others. In a study
done by Mary Bryne, minority children are at a greater risk of sleep deprivation than
white kids. Despite this information, she found that in reality that parents of rich white
kids report more inadequate sleep in their children. However it may be, sleep
deprivation worsened when teens started having electronics and other distractions in
their rooms (Sleep and Sleep Deprivation).
Sleep deprivation is a serious health issue and it has many effects. If a person
doesnt get enough sleep he or she will accumulate sleep debt. Sleep Debt is the total
of how much a person has slept subtracted from how much he or she should have slept.

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For example, if a person sleeps 7 hours every night for 5 days and the recommended
number is 9, he or she accumulates a total of 10 hours of sleep debt. Sleep debt can be
redeemed by sleeping extra, but the higher the number is, the harder it is to reverse the
Park also states that the average teen cant fall asleep until 11 p.m., and also that
forcing kids to go to sleep earlier will not help. To address this issue, some high schools
are delaying their starting classes to at least 8:30 a.m. to align with the biological sleep
patterns of their students (Bratsis). Delaying classes 30 minutes in a community showed
a significant 45 minutes extra in students sleep pattern (Moon).
Sleep deprivation also causes many health issues. Less sleep during teenage
years pushes the brain to age faster (Park). If a person is extremely sleep deprived, he
or she can experience microsleeps REM sleep is constant in young kids with constant
bed times (Millman). Like Sleep Debt, lack of REM sleep also goes into debt if the
required amount is not met. If the number is not met, then the body will try to make up
for it the next day. However if it is not met the next day or the day after that and so on,
there will be permanent damage (How Much Sleep Do You Need?).
While Sleep Deprivation affects people mentally, it also affects people physically.
Sleep deprivation has been affiliated with atopic disorders such as asthma and allergies
(Stein et al.). Sleep is also associated with growth as growth hormone is released into
the bloodstream during sleep. This is why there is a risk for sleep deprived children to
be shorter (Underwood), 53. There is also a correlation between sleep deprived children
and obesity. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation alter the hormones of appetite.
In a study done, adolescents who sleep less than 8 hours tend to consume 2.2 more
calories from fat and 3 percent fewer calories from carbohydrates compared to

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adolescents who slept 8 hours or more (Rettner, Sleep-Deprived Teens May Pay a
Hefty Price") Along with obesity, diabetes is another effect of sleep deprivation. Poor
sleep leads to insulin resistance in teens. Since insulin helps regulate blood sugar
levels, resistance can lead to diabetes (Sleep and Sleep Deprivation).
Sleep deprivation has also been associated with mental diseases. Depression is
said to be caused by sleep deprivation and also the other way around, and since they
have interchangeable symptoms it is harder to diagnose which way order the personhad
their problems in. If someone has depression caused by sleep deprivation, he or she
will feel miserable. However, if the person already has depression, then oddly enough,
the sleep deprivation will make him or her feel better (Park). ADHD is also caused by
sleep deprivation along with migraines. Fifty percent of parents whose children have
ADHD report them having sleep problems (Bryne, Horig, and Smaldone).
Sleep deprivation may affect a teens performance in sports. Sleepy teens have
less strength, endurance, and speed when he or she is playing. According to a 2012
study from the American Academy of Pediatrics, less sleep can result in a 30% more
chance of getting injured. Less amount of sleep will result in him or her performing
worse in the athletic event relative to how much sleep the person got and how long the
athletic event is (Sleep and Sleep Deprivation).
Sleep deprivation is also linked to the development bad habits and behaviors.
For example, a study done showed that most teens go to school unfed because the
mind doesnt want to eat when it would rather sleep (Underwood, 53). Not only is it
unhealthy for the body, not eating breakfast could lower a students concentration and
overall potential for learning. Also, teens who do not eat breakfast are more likely to

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snack on foods with high fat and sugar content. Teens who dont eat breakfast are also
more likely to have to make up nutrients and vitamins that the breakfast would have
provided anyway (Why You Should Eat Breakfast).

Children with sleep deprivation have been shown to have behavioral issues. A
survey conducted showed that young teens who had sleep problems were more
rebellious than kids who did not (Dubokovi et al.) Scientists found the reasons behind
this were that lack of sleep affected the rhythm in a kids body that affected the kids
developing brain. As kids with sleep deprivation matured, they would start to show
symptoms of behavioral disorders such as conduct disorder, hyperactivity, passive
aggressive disorder, and emotional difficulty (Irregular bedtimes linked to kids
behavioral problems).
Not enough sleep has let to teens using caffeine and energy drinks to stay
awake. Children are not getting enough sleep due to observations such as, kids
consuming excess caffeine (Twatchman). Caffeine disrupts the bodys sleep schedule
and, like nicotine, causes consumers to not get restful sleep. When consumed
occasionally however, there are no major effects. Some teens due to tiredness drink
energy drinks which disrupt hormones in the body and have been shown to cause sleep
deprivation as well (Sleep Deprivation).
Sleep deprived teens have been associated with car crashes. According to the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), driving with less than six hours of
sleep is the equivalent to .05 on the Blood Alcohol Content scale. In Illinois, the legal

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limit is .08 (25). Drowsy driving already accounts for about 20% of car crashes in the
United States. In a survey done, teens who slept 6 hours of fewer were 20% more likely
to be in a car crash over the next two years (Rettner, Sleep-Deprived Teens More
Likely To Crash). One community in Lexington, Kentucky delayed its classes by an
hour and the crash rates for teenage drivers decreased by 16.5% (Cheshire).
While evidence points that schools should start later, there are some
complications. Starting school early reduces transportation costs by using less busses
(Edwards). One point that is regularly made is that if high school starts later and ends
later than elementary schools, younger siblings would get home before their older
siblings. This is why elementary schools are pushing to create after school programs in
which children are in a supervised area while they wait for their parents or older siblings
to pick them up (Park).
Sleep Deprivation is a serious issue that is affecting more and more teens and
young kids every day. With sleep deprivation as a problem, teens are less healthy,
perform worse in class, develop bad habits, and are in danger of car crashes. Starting
schools later is only a step towards ending it. According to the National Center for
Education Statistics, only 14% of public high schools start after 8:30 a.m. 200 to 300
schools have changed to later hours in recent years and have seen increases in health
and safety (DeNisco). With the thought of the future of the world more and more
pediatricians are fighting for this cause. Even with overwhelming amount of evidence
received from countless of studies, schools are still hesitant to delay their classes.

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Works Cited
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inadequate sleep and relationships to health and well-being of our nations
children. Pediatrics Feb. 2007 529+. General OneFile. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
Canapari, Craig. "Too Much Homework, Too Little Sleep: Structural Sleep Deprivation in
Teens." Craig Canapari MD. N.p., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Jan. 2015

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Cheshire, Sarah. Doctors: Early School Start Times Unhealthy For Students
CNN.com. CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Aug. 14. 17 Jan. 2015.
DeNisco, Alison. Push for more sleep for high schoolers intensifies. District
Administration Feb. 2014: 16. General OneFile. Web. 17 Jan. 2015
Dubokovi, Margarita et al. The impact of school daily schedule on adolescent sleep.
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Edwards, Finely. Do schools begin too early? The effect of start times on student
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"How Much Sleep Do You Need?" Sleep Cycles and Stages, Lack of Sleep, and How to
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Irregular Bedtimes Linked to Kids' Behavioral Problem." Medical News Today.
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Millman, Richard P. Excessive sleepiness in adolescents and young adults. Causes,
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Moon, Mary Ann. More data back value of later school start times. Clinical Psychiatry
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Park, Alice. Pediatrics Group Says Schools Should Start Later. Time. Time, 25. Aug.
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Preschoolers who cannot sleep become teens with drug issues. Child Protection
report 3 June 2004. 84. General OneFile. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
Rettner, Rachael. "Sleep-Deprived Teens May Pay a Hefty Price." LiveSience.
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Rettner, Rachael. "Sleep-Deprived Teens More Likely To Crash." LiveScience.
TechMedia Network, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.
Schute, Nancy. Pediatricians Say School Should Start Later For Teens Health. NPR.
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Teufel, James A., Stephen L. Brown, and David A. Birch. Sleep among early adolescent
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Twatchman, Gregory. Pediatricians take aim at school start times. Pediatric News
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"Why You Should Eat a Healthy Breakfast." John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health. John Hopkins University, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.