Later Start Times: Are They Beneficial?

If you ask almost any high school student if they are tired waking up in the morning while the school year is in full swing, the answer will most likely be yes. Go on to ask how many hours of sleep they are getting per night, and the majority of the time, they will respond with a number that is lower than the recommended amount for adolescents, which is, according to the National Sleep Foundation, an average of 8 ½ to 9 ¼ hours. Instead of getting even close to that number, NSF continues, teens average in fewer than seven hours of per school night by the end of high school.

This tiredness that most students report feeling can be attributed to many factors. For one, earlier start times take a toll on our internal clocks that run on circadian rhythms. With puberty, a shift begins in circadian rhythm, called a “sleep phase change.” According to the UCLA health department, the need for sleep during this period is shifted two hours later, making most teenagers feel tired closer to 10 or 11 PM. Naturally, this results in a need for sleeping later to complete the necessary number of hours still accounting for the later internal clock.

According to a study by Dr. Mary A. Carskadon, Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Research Laboratory and professor in Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine, melatonin starts to turn off later in the morning in adolescents, making waking up earlier harder. Due to these factors, earlier wake up times cause sleep deprivation for students across the US and globally.

Carskadon responds to this issue saying, "Given that the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners."

To further address the issue, I asked for opinions from both a student and a teacher at Derryfield. Julia Tilton, a busy tenth grader, was enthusiastic about the idea of a later start time. When asked, she replied, “Yes, a later start time would be helpful. I think it’s important to target the time of day when students are most aware so as to better their performances and attention spans.”

Ms. Boesch, Director of Academic Support, has a packed schedule of helping students deal with a wide range of work during their school days, and works with tired students on a daily basis. She said, “Research done on this subject all points to later starts being beneficial. If it was only a matter of the students it would be a no-brainer. However, some consideration has to be put into the schedules of parents dropping off kids before work, transportation, and other factors. Overall, an extra hour or two would make the kids more awake and alert in the mornings.”

Of course, having a later start time would not solve all problems. Students would still be busy balancing extracurriculars, homework, free time, and much more. High schoolers would still be incredibly busy people. It would take careful consideration and would impact not just the students, but faculty, staff, and families as well. However, a later start for the school day would be beneficial to better align with melatonin production and sleep cycles, and to improve health, brain development, and performance in the future.