Every day, millions of students awaken to the blaring of an alarm clock, grumbling “it’s too early for this”. As they drag through the school day, many can hardly keep their eyes open. This daily struggle can be attributed to a lack of sleep. Students are often stuck doing homework late into the night (or even early into the morning), then having to wake up early the next day. This makes it next to impossible to get a sufficient amount of sleep. Luckily, there is a solution to this issue. Schools need later start times.

To fully address why schools should start later, one must first understand the magnitude of the problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “that middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later.” But, “93% of high schools and 83% of middle schools in the U.S. start before 8:30 a.m.” This goes to show that despite recommendations designed for students to get enough sleep, a vast majority of schools start earlier than they ought. But what are the consequences? The CDC describes potential issues stemming from a lack of sleep; “Adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight, suffer from symptoms of depression, engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco, and using illicit drugs, and perform poorly in school.” This long list of dangers makes it clear exactly why later start times are imperative. 

Furthermore, many adults discount the issue, as they don’t have a hard time waking up early. They suggest that teenagers are simply lazy. The truth is quite the opposite. According to the University of Washington, changes in the adolescent circadian rhythm “cause teens to fall asleep later each night and wake up later each morning relative to most children and adults.” Thus, it is not just a poor choice for teenagers to both go to sleep and wake up later — they are biologically wired to do so. 

Failure to meet recommended start times, paired with the harm a lack of sleep can cause and the natural circadian cycle of an adolescent provides compelling evidence that change is desperately needed. The good news is, some locations have already implemented later start times for their schools. A study conducted by the University of Washington “compared the sleep behaviors of two separate groups of sophomores.” One group had later school start times than the control group. The results were exactly what was expected. “Final grades were 4.5 percent higher for students who took the class after school start times were pushed back compared with students who took the class when school started earlier.” This experiment made the positive impact of extra sleep abundantly clear.

So many students are needlessly struggling due to excessively early school start times. This insufficient amount of sleep can cause many problems, health and otherwise. All this could change. Adolescents naturally go to sleep later and wake up later than adults. It has already been recommended that schools start no earlier than 8:30 in the morning; however, few places have accommodated this. The locations where change has been made have seen the benefits, and more school districts nationwide need to follow in these footsteps. Start times of middle and high schools need to be delayed.

Works Cited

“Schools Start Too Early.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 May 2020, www.cdc.gov/sleep/features/schools-start-too-early.html. 

Urton, James. “Teens Get More Sleep, Show Improved Grades and Attendance with Later School Start Time, Researchers Find.” UW News, 12 Dec. 2018, www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/12/high-school-start-times-study/.