Should High School Start Later Essay

High schools should start their school day later than they do now, in order for students to get the best out of their education. High schools throughout the United States start their school day at times that are too early for students. Teenagers have a biological wake time, and when schools start early in the morning, it interferes with teens biological clock. According to a study done by Harvard Medical School, young adults need at least nine hours of sleep every night. The study also shows that the need for sleep is never greater in our lives than it is during adolescence, but yet the conflict between school and sleep is at it’s highest while teens are in high school. Many educators believe that if teens just went to bed earlier, they would
be fine. However, it is hard for students who are involved in sports, music, work, or other activities to go to bed earlier, especially when they are given lots of homework on top of their already busy schedules. When they are able to go to sleep, they can’t get the nine hours they should be getting every night, because they have to get up early for school. When students get up earlier than they biologically should, they are not able to function at as high of a level as they could. Students have negative effects, like poor communication, decreased concentration and cognitive performance, decreased motor performance, and changes in mood pattern. These effects could all be prevented, if schools would start later than they do. The impact that sleep deprivation has on teenagers is dangerous. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens can become irritated and depressed. They also could have impaired decision making, and start doing things like tobacco or drinking alcohol. Because teens are tired, they are at risk for drowsy driving. This could result in them getting into accidents, that could easily be avoided if they were not drowsy, or had gotten an adequate amount of sleep. All of these effects of lack of sleep could be preventable by starting later, so that students have more time to sleep every night. If schools start later in the morning, then their students may show improvements in their behaviors. Schools that have a high amount of students who have behavioral issues, or students who are involved in illegal things, like drinking or smoking underage, could reduce that problem with a simple change in their schedule. The reason students behavior could change based on sleep is because of a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the body, and it helps the body maintain its sleep and wake cycles.
In the evening, melatonin levels rise, and then during the night they remain at high levels. When you wake up in the morning, the hormone levels normally drop again. However, as WebMD explains, teen melatonin levels do not drop as fast as an adults do. Teens levels do not drop until later in the morning. This means that before teens levels drop, they feel sleepy, and sometimes irritated. Their memory isn’t as good as it can be yet, and they do not take in information as well. Teens that learn lots of curriculum during the morning, may not even remember all of what they learned later in the day, because they aren’t fully awake yet. Once they’re melatonin levels drop, they can learn at the best of their ability, but again, this doesn’t happen until later in the morning. With school starting earlier than teen bodies are physically capable of, they are not setting their students up for success. In order for students to achieve the best from their education, schools should start later in the morning. Students biological clocks would benefit from this, and in turn students would show better behavior. When schools start later, it gives students time to fully wake up and achieve the best results in
school.