School start times that are too early can contribute to lack of sleep among teens, most of whom don’t get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of shut-eye, the report said.
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It is important for student’s to get enough sleep, as it can effect their academic performance, safety, as well as their general health. Though the details behind these changes in volume via the scans are not entirely clear, the results reveal a bit more about the time-line of brain maturation into adolescence and young adulthood, making sleep and rest a critical period in adolescence and on into adulthood.
The new leader of the East Baton Rouge School System is evaluating school start times for middle and high school students.
For instance, about 30 percent of schools in Louisiana started their classes before 7:30 a.m. Yet, Alaska had the latest medium start at 8:33.
Overall, in 42 states, more than three-quarters of middle and high schools began before 8:30 a.m, according to the report.
According to the authors, as little as one-third of students get sufficient sleep.
No schools in Hawaii, Mississippi and Wyoming started at 8:30 a.m. or later, while more than three-quarters of schools in Alaska and North Dakota started at 8:30 a.m. or later.
In short, there are lots of reasons why the majority of schools don’t want to mess with the status quo when it comes to start times.
The decision of school start times are not determined at federal or state level but at district or individual school level.
Sleep is both healthy and precious to everyone, and a recent study has confirmed that early school hours are unhealthy for US teens, who are very likely to be sleep deprived. This included information for about 40,000 middle schools, high schools and combined schools.
So until schools change their ways, it’s up to teens and their parents to improve their sleeping habits, the CDC advised.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education looked at the data collected by the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey.
Present AASA executive director for the School Superintendents Association, Daniel Domenech agrees, “It’s a logistical nightmare”, saying that school districts really should consider how much school buses cost as well as the impact of traffic and after-school schedules.
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Parents, in the past, have urged schools to delay start times, but administrators often refused, citing that such a change would make it too hard to organize after-school extracurricular activities. Adolescents who don’t get enough sleep are at higher risk for being overweight, depressed and using tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs, but less likely to get enough exercise, according to the CDC.
