Teens Should Start Later Essay

Every year, adolescents are resigned to another year of fighting against their biological clock and are unable to get to class on time. The teen later gets up, the better off he is at school. This is the conclusion reached by several investigations in different parts of the world, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, and based on this evidence the US Academy of Pediatrics. It has just recommended that all schools in that country have students between 10 and 18 years of age to delay the entry time until 08.30 a.m. or later. The latest research on the subject, conducted by the University of Minnesota, highlights the benefits of changing the schedule, after research in US. Which spanned eight schools and gathered data from more than 9,000 students. This study found that teens who enter school later report higher grades, doing better on tests. They also showed evidence of less depression and use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. But in addition, the research noted that there are fewer car accidents involving teenagers, because teenagers are usually more alert.

Experts point out that adolescents have a different sleep cycle than adults and children under the age of ten. That's why when teenagers are at school before eight in the morning their brains have not yet awakened and it's not unusual for them
to sleep in their seats. Scientists point out that sleep cycles are delayed up to two hours with the advent of adolescence and that ideally they sleep between nine and nine and a half hours. At eight o'clock in the morning the teenagers are still in the deep sleep phase, and interrupting it at that time causes sleepiness for hours. These are not only results in low ratings, but when they suffer from lack of sleep, they are more prone to problems of depression, alcohol and tobacco consumption and to be victims of car accidents. The US Academy of Pediatrics is the most influential organization that has so far joined this recommendation. Judith Owens, one of the community's authors, noted that benefits are widespread and include improvements in academic performance, health, mood and even safety.

In the UK, experts have gone even further.
Russell Foster of the University of Oxford, who participated in a pilot on the matter, says that starting at 10 o'clock in the morning would be even more advisable. The pilot, conducted at the Monkseaton school and which included 800 students between the ages of 13 and 19, showed that starting at 10:00 a.m. has a significant impact on school performance. "Any schedule is better than eight in the morning. Starting at 08:30 will make a difference, but starting at 10:00 would still be a lot better," Russell told the British magazine New Scientist when asked about the American's recommendation Academy of
Pediatrics.

But both in the US As in other countries like the UK, there is a lot of resistance to welcome the change of schedule. One of the reasons is the difficulty of combining a new schedule with the parents' work day. According to Dr. Wahlstrom's resistance to many Factors such as the organization of child care, how it affects the schedule of buses picking up students, and the reluctance of school staff who would have to finish later. Despite this, many schools in the US are considering a revision of the schedule, although the authorities have emphasized that the decision must be made at local level. Medical evidence on how the adolescent brain works feels compelling. But it is not clear that schools and the rest of society are ready to adjust to the biological clock of adolescents.

Delaying school entry time for just 30 minutes each day would improves teenagers' attention, mood, and health, according to a study conducted in the US and the UK. The proportion of students who slept at least eight hours of sleep would increase by 16.4 percent to 54.7 percent, while the proportion of students who slept less than seven hours would be reduced by almost 80 percent.