The Early Bird Gets The Chronic Sleep Deprivation

A student crawls out of bed after their alarm clock blares for the fourth time after hitting snooze. They drag themself out the door and climb into the car in a semi-somnolent fog, all the while hoping they won’t be late to school and that maybe, just maybe, they’ll have enough time to eat breakfast tomorrow. It’s still dark out. Nearly everyone has experienced this feeling, and it’s not only exhausting–it’s fundamentally unhealthy. 

According to the CDC, teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep. Less than that can lead to an increased likelihood of developing obesity, experiencing symptoms of depression, and engaging in smoking, drinking, or drug use. In their 2017 survey, it was reported that only one quarter of high school students were sleeping for this minimum recommended amount.

Now, one might suggest that maybe students should just go to sleep earlier, but this is easier said than done. Teenagers’ circadian rhythms make them feel tired about two hours later at night than other age groups and, therefore, make them feel awake two hours later as well. This means that if a thirteen-year-old wakes up at 5:30 am, it’s equivalent to waking a five-year-old or a thirty-five-year-old up at 3:30 in the morning. The vast majority of schools in the United States, however, don’t align with these health requirements, leading to millions of teens facing sleep deprivation. As said by Gideon Dunster about a University of Washington study he conducted on school start time’s relation to sleep, “the time at which teens fall asleep is biologically determined– but the time at which they wake up is socially determined.” 

Even if schools were to shift their schedules, how much would school need to change, and, more importantly, how much of an impact would it make? Well, Dunster’s study aimed to address exactly that. They used wrist monitors which tracked light and activity levels on a group of 92 students at Roosevelt and Franklin high schools, both starting at 7:50 in the morning. The next year, after moving the school’s start times to 8:45 am, they concluded that under the new school schedule, students got a whopping 34 more minutes of sleep per night. While it may not sound like a lot, a half-hour shift was enough to make a substantial impact on their academic performance; the students’ performance in biology class was monitored throughout the study, and the new school start time led to a 4.5% final grade increase at both schools.

In another study done in Los Angeles, after shifting schools’ schedules, students’ test scores went up by 2-3%. In one district, student absences dropped by 25%. In Rhode Island, a school moved its start time from 8:00 to 8:30, and students slept an extra 45 minutes per night. As a result, they described less fatigue and better moods.

Despite these benefits, however, changing a school’s schedule isn’t as simple as it seems. Many parents have to leave for work at a certain time in addition to dropping their child off at a bus stop or school building, and even a small shift in the school’s start time can prove disastrous for their daily commute. Furthermore, it creates challenges when rearranging school transportation schedules. Moving a school’s start time can also leave less time after school for student homework and extracurriculars.

Still, the pros of later school far outweigh the cons, and with drug and alcohol use in teens, feelings of hopelessness, and suicide attempts all linked to sleep deprivation, schools can’t afford to wait.