School start times cause sleep deprivation
It’s six in the morning and an alarm blares like a siren. The person in bed reaches over and hits snooze, hoping the next 10 minutes will cure their sleep deprivation. When the alarm goes off again, they get up and get ready to leave their house for the day. After covering up their dark circles, they grab a granola bar on the way out the door, and eat it on the way to their daily destination, while their eyes try to stay open.
Sound familiar? Sleep deprivation is a serious problem which corrupts most of today’s society, and teenagers often suffer from it the most. According to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, teenagers need nine to nine and a half hours of sleep every night. On average, most get only seven.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation can limit a person’s ability to learn, concentrate and solve problems. It causes acne, can cause a person to be more likely to turn to foods high in sugar and carbohydrates, more aggressive, and more likely to cause a car accident due to drowsy driving. In some cases, lack of sleep can have the same effect on one’s driving abilities as if they were driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent. In Ohio, driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent is illegal.
National Children’s Hospital also says that once a person hits puberty, there is a biological shift in their internal clock. This causes them to not physically be ready to go to bed until 11 p.m. This means to get nine hours of sleep, teenagers should not wake up until 8 a.m. which is after most schools have started. If schools started at 9 a.m. or later, students would be able to get close to the recommended hours of sleep, however 43 percent of public high schools start before 8 a.m. according to the Centers for Disease and Control.
Middle and elementary school students should be getting 10 hours of sleep, according to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. With an internal clock that causes them to fall asleep between 8 and 9 p.m., they should wake up around 6:30 a.m. to get the right amount of sleep.
“One big purpose physically that sleep provides is a chance for the body to repair itself physically, at the cell level, but also chemically it allows the body to ‘restock’ and get ready for the next day,” AP Psychology teacher Brian Wendle said.
Based off of the changing internal clock of children and adolescents, it would make more sense for elementary and middle schools to start before high schools.
For the Olentangy district, a high school start time of 9 a.m. would cause school to end at 4:15 p.m. which would still give time for after school activities. It would also give teams and clubs more time to meet before school, without having to start at 6 a.m.
Games could still start between 5 and 7 p.m. and be over around 8 or 9 p.m. This would give students who are in after school activities just over two hours to finish their homework before they would need to go to bed to get the right amount of sleep.
Junior Marley W. moved to the Olentangy for the 2017-2018 school year. Previously, she lived in Illinois, where her school started at 8 a.m., except on Wednesdays when it started at 8;30 a.m. She said people seemed more awake and work “was doable because everyone was in a better mood” than they are at Olentangy.
If high school started later, elementary schools could start at 7:30 a.m., and end at 2:15 p.m. Middle school could start at 8:40 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.
“[Elementary students starting before other schools] just makes so much for since, because they get tired earlier, and don’t have as much work that keeps them up at night,” Marlee W. said.
Admittedly, this would pose some problems for parents of elementary students. With older siblings not getting home first, some elementary schoolers will need to go to daycare or Y Club (formerly known as LatchKey), which costs money for their parents.
Ava Huffman • Dec 11, 2019 at 2:22 pm
I like this article a lot because I totally relate and I’m sure a lot of other people do also. It’s very difficult to focus and get things done when you’re exhausted.
Izzy Mroczkowski • Nov 6, 2018 at 9:11 pm
1) I like how tis brought awareness to how high school students struggle with sleep and energy issues.
2) How important it is for students to get the right amount of sleep.
3) The news element is conflict between school time and sleep deprivation.
Camdyn Vollmer • Mar 14, 2018 at 1:44 pm
I strongly agree with this article and the opinion on starting school at a later time. Starting the school day later would provide students with a healthy amount of sleep, which in trade provides the school with happy and well-rested students that are able to focus at their maximum capability.
Kylie Roberts • Mar 14, 2018 at 1:35 pm
I loved how you used statistics to strengthen your argument. I never knew sleep deprivation was on the same level as having an illegal blood alcohol content on 0.08, so that really stood out to me. I also love how you started your argument with a detailed story because it really established a common ground that I personally related to. I felt that my attention was focused throughout the entire article, but I felt like it ended abruptly. But I did like how you included the counter argument, it made you seem unbiased and open-minded. Overall, I thought this was very interesting and highly relatable and I think it’s a topic discussed under the radar that needs to be brought to the surface , and you did that perfectly!
Kayla Niklaus • Mar 14, 2018 at 1:35 pm
I enjoyed reading this article and completely agree with the benefits of high school starting later. This article was easy to understand and written very well. I hope administrators will read this article and consider giving us sleep-deprived students a little more time in the mornings.
Katie Brinckerhoff • Mar 14, 2018 at 1:25 pm
This is a very interesting topic! I agree that our high school should start later so that high school students can get the rest they need. As a high school student, I try to go to bed at least before 10:30 each night, and even if I go to bed at 9 p.m. I still find myself exhausted. Every morning I wake up at 5:30 to get ready for school and its exhausting. Having to wake up at 5:30 every morning is something that nobody should have to do, especially a teenager with lots of schoolwork.
Rylie Davis • Mar 14, 2018 at 1:25 pm
I really loved this article because I can strongly relate to it. I struggle with sleep deprivation because of my after school sports practices being so late and then having to wake up so early in the mornings. On weekends I am always concerning myself with going to bed at a decent hour to try to get some rest, but with friends wanting to make plans it never works. This article really brings attention to this issue and I believe administrators should take the time to read this!
Kelly Mallon • Mar 14, 2018 at 9:43 am
I think this topic is very interesting and relevant to students’ lives. The statistics about driving with little sleep being the same as driving drunk are shocking, and I am glad that you are informing people about the risk it poses.
Madison Lapid • Mar 14, 2018 at 9:43 am
This was a really good topic to write about because a lot of students can relate to it. It has become such a common thing for high schoolers to wake up for school at 6 after going to sleep at midnight because they had sports, work, or homework, and schools definitely need to start later to accommodate for the student’s lives outside of school.
Megan Arline • Mar 14, 2018 at 9:32 am
Great story! Your article really speaks for the student body about school start times! Love your editing on the article and the opinions and data you bring to the table. Keep up the good work!
Erin Johnson • Mar 14, 2018 at 9:25 am
Thank you for presenting this topic to us students who can relate to this topic about lack of sleep.
MacKenzie Hanson • Mar 14, 2018 at 7:53 am
I completely agree with this article because I do believe high schools should start later. I do understand extra curricular activities would be pushed back, but I think we could work it out. If elementary students started earlier, this would greatly help my peers and I to focus in class and be more alert and active in class. When the school is on two hour delay schedules, I always feel awake and ready to start my day. I wish everyday started later like that. I see the pros and cons of this time change and I do understand that there is no perfect solution, but maybe if we tested the time change out, everyone would be able to sacrifice or compromise on something.
Indie Murphy • Mar 14, 2018 at 7:39 am
I really like this article because I think sleek deprivation is something that should be taken more seriously and I’m glad you wrote about it!
Christin Carmichael • Mar 14, 2018 at 7:37 am
Thank you for writing this article. I 100 percent agree with everything that you said . I think high school students in OLSD should go to school at a later time. We are really busy and are assigned at least an hour of homework if not more and I know a lot of students who stay up until midnight completing homework and assignments. That leaves then with 6 hours of sleep before they have to get up and shuffle along to school. I hope the district reads this article and hears our concerns and hopefully does something.