Do you get enough sleep for school? Numerous schools start very early in the morning and for teenagers that can be very hard for them. Studies show that teenagers having to wake up early for school are having symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation, such as fatigue, depression, memory and, cognition impairment. Studies also show that starting school later helps with grades, it could reduce caffeine dependence, it can help with school performance, and lets teenagers have time to eat breakfast at home with family. 

Scientists recommend that teenagers should get around 8 to 10 hours of sleep. But schools that start earlier force teens to shift and reduce their sleep schedules.

As a student in a high school that starts early in the morning, I personally don’t feel like I get enough sleep. When I lived in California, the high schools and elementary schools started at 8:30 am and ended at 3:00 pm. All sports practices started right after school and ended around 5:00 pm. Not many students were really complaining about how tired they were. Now in Kentucky, when high schools start at 7:30 am and I struggle through school. Almost every day after school, I have homework to work on and it takes up most of my sleeping time. Then when I eventually go to bed, I have to wake up early in the morning and it’s hard to function. 

The article SleepFoundation.org says “The consequences of sleep deprivation during the teenage years are particularly serious. Teens spend a great portion of each day in school; however, they are unable to maximize the learning opportunities afforded by the education system, since sleep deprivation impairs their ability to be alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information.”

A simple way to solve all these problems that teens are having is just to start school later in the day. There are so many benefits for students when they are able to get some sleep. 

So I asked a few students the question “Should the school day start later in the day?”

“Yes, high school should start later in the day. We aren’t fully awake until 10 am and it’s not healthy to force knowledge into our brain when we can’t comprehend it. It would just make more sense to start school later in the day because not all students can focus early in the morning.” -Dominic Franks

“The schools shouldn’t start any later, but only because the school would have to end later. If the school systems decided to open around 9 am, then we would have to get out of school at 5 pm. 6/10 students engage in extracurricular activities, which take up a lot of time and they probably wouldn’t have time to do regular stuff like chores, homework, eat, or spend time with their families. Even though it would really benefit students because we would be able to sleep more, and properly function throughout the day.”  -Jayden Belote

“Yes, high schools should start later in the day. Possibly, Kentucky schools could switch the elementary times with the high school times” -Mac Bettersworth