LA:TE
School vs. Sleeping: How to be Healthy BY VALERIA GONZALEZ Staff Member
In the United Sataes, the average start time for schools is 8:00 a.m. Studies around the country are measuring the effects of that schedule combined with the amount of hours teenagers should sleep. These hours decrease as teens grow, from nine to eight hours. Studies found that starting school early harms the mind of growing teens. Two professional associations, the American Academies of Sleep Medicine and Pediatrics, say school should start at 8:30 a.m., 26 minutes after the national average. Adding to that, teens go through phase delay, making them want to sleep at 11:00 p.m. and wake up at 8:00 a.m. To determine the effects of starting school at 8:00 a.m. on juniors with different responsibilities, highschool students were asked if they think schools should change schedules to match the studies. One student participates in clubs and sports, the other wants to participate in clubs, and one is adjusting to being new. Three students, Aleeza, Feeman, and Juliana, all talked about their experiences with after school clubs and sports. Aleeza and Juliana are both transfer students and they have to deal with carpooling, which causes them to wake up earlier. Feeman lives very close to the school, so she fortunately does not have to deal with that.
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Considering clubs, Feeman has the most overall, with teaching and playing piano, playing guitar and soccer, having band practice, and joining National English Honors Society (NEHS) and Speech and Debate club. Aleeza is looking forward to joining clubs, such as French, NEHS, Muslim Student Association, and Speech and Debate club and also to forming a new club with one of her friends. As a new student, Juliana still does not have enough information about the available clubs, but confirms that she does want to participate in them. Juliana was also the only one who did not think she would benefit from school starting later because she likes to get tasks done earlier in the day. Feeman commented that the school schedule does not bother her, although she would understand why it bothers younger students. Aleeza was very enthusiastic about what she would do with extra hours of the day, that activity being biking because of the previous wonderful weather. All three of these very diverse students had similar sleeping schedules, which included going to sleep as early as 11:00 p.m. and as late as 12:00 p.m. and waking up as early as 5:45 a.m. and as late as 6:30 a.m. From a healthy sleep perspective, sleeping for eight hours as a growing, developing teen is important. While opinions and perspectives vary, the only thing that doesn’t change is what student’s need and sometimes all a student needs is a little more time.
Sleeping for eight hours as a growing, developing teen is important.
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