What if school started later?

It’s an early morning for you; the first day back at high school that includes a 5:30 a.m. wakeup time and later making sure you are on time for the bus. Perhaps, you are one of the fortunate students that can drive to school and lives close enough to wake up at 7:00. Unfortunately, waking up at 7:00 still feels like a drag. You have finally made it to school (barely missing the bell) and get ready for another long first block. You can hear the teacher going on about Shakespeare (this is not math?) and start to daze off. You hardly got any sleep last night from doing homework and trying to keep up with some extra curricular activities as well. You go to rest your head on your desk, not to fall asleep, but just to rest for a little longer. Before you know it, everything is black and you hear the teacher saying your name repeatedly. Not again. This the third time this semester; you really have to stop falling asleep in class.

Judith Owens is the director of sleep medicine at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; she says that starting the day after eight a.m. will help students get more sleep, therefore resulting in less fatigue during the school day and a wider attention span. It is recommended that high school students get about nine hours of sleep; most students admit to getting only seven or less. Studies do show that after puberty, the body’s sleep schedule changes and it is hard for teenagers to fall asleep before eleven p.m. To get the fully recommended nine hours, you would have to wake up at eight a.m.