Why Students Should Start Later Research Paper

Improved Essays
Some people may think that waking up later would not make a difference when it comes to someone 's academics. That is false. Experts have found improvements in attendance, enrollment rates, and more alert students. The adolescents actually gained five hours of sleep every night when they started school later (Esherick 71). Students have reported feeling better over all. Just the extra half hour has lead to teenagers going to bed sooner. Since the teens had an less difficulty focusing, it took them less time to complete their homework. This gives them more time to relax and sleep (Park 2). Without the time change, students make simple mistakes on their homework and get lower grades on tests because they are sleep deprived. It was reported in 1998 that adolescents that earned C’s, D’s, and F’s on their homework went to bed around 40 minutes after A and B students. They received about 25 minutes of sleep each night (Esherick 71). Students that get more sleep clearly have an advantage over the students that are sleep deprived. They are also mentally stronger. Students need to be mentally strong enough to make it through high school. …show more content…
Obtaining good grades while participating in extracurricular activities keeps a person very busy. Teens have to find time for sport practices, homework, and family time. Some teenagers may have jobs as well. This does not leave much time for sleep! Sleep always seems to get left out of our schedules. We need sleep to fight off disease, stabilize our emotional health, our physical health, and mental health (Esherick 44). When a Minneapolis School changed their start time from 7:15 TO 8:45, Dr. Kyla studied the results. She found a lower amount of depressed students (Esherick 68). Some people believe that when you get tired is determined mentally. Emmanuel Mignot is a sleep expert from Stanford University. Mingot has a theory that a mutation on chromosome four helps determine if someone is a morning person or not. If a student is not a morning-type, they may not be as awake. This may lead them to have trouble remembering new information (Impact of School Start Time on Student Learning 6). Students may also act better. A person may feel grumpy, non motivated, and emotional when the person does not get enough sleep. The amount of sleep a person gets determines the number of neurotransmitters their brain produces. Neurotransmitters are a large part of what helps regulates your emotions. They are what makes a perSon feel stressed, aggressive, or depressed when the person does not receive enough sleep (Esherick 13). Not getting enough sleep can make it seem like a person has ADHD. The person may have trouble concentrating. They may also have trouble multitasking or focusing on more than one thing at a time (“The Impact of School Start Time on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance” 5). Experts suggest that teenagers should get eight to ten hours of sleep although most do not. This leads to 15% of students admitting to sleeping during class (Esherick 16). The amount of sleep a person gets does affect the way someone behaves. Not only do people sleep in class, but they feel less motivated throughout the day (Impact on School Start Time on Student Learning 8). With the earlier start time, teenagers are actually encouraged to go to bed sooner. A lot of health care workers and parents may think that they would go to bed later but that is not the case. Along with behaving better and feeling more emotionally stable, a person physically benefits from sleep. If someone does not get enough sleep, they may be more likely to make decisions that could physically harm them. The person may be lead to get in a physical fight. They could also stop eating correctly or stop getting enough exercise. This could damage their physical health. When a teenager is tired, they are more than likely not going to want to go for a run or go to the gym. Parents worry about their teenage children drinking and doing drugs. If teens got more sleep, they could potentially make the better decision to stay away from the illegal substances (Impact of School Start Time on

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Which in turn will help them with their grades. In the article Written by Amanda Macmillan states “Center for disease control and prevention (CDC) … Middle school and High school students are allowed to wake up later in the morning,They’ll be more focused during the day.”. When kids are more focused it can help them with grades and be able to pay attention and learn, instead of sleeping and being grumpy in class.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Teens need 8.5-9.25 hour of sleep each night,⅔ of them get less than 7 hours of sleep, 33 percent of teen report falling asleep in school, 43 percent of U.S. public High School start before 8:00 am. Irregular sleeping patterns affect number of endocrine, metabolic, and neurological functions that are critical to maintain a healthy life. The increase in academic demands,and growing social and recreational opportunities,all of which take place in spite of no change in rise time for school. Sleep deprivation has caused tragedy in the past; public health consequences of working at night,and sleep disorders are just the tip of the iceberg. Of course school should start later.it affects the way we start the day because if we start too early we become tired and not focused throughout the day,we dont focus we will not learn and therefore need to…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Varley claims, “Other positive effects cited by researchers include better attendance, fewer tardiness, far fewer students falling asleep at their desks, more alert students more engaged in the learning process, less depression, fewer problems at home and among friends, enhanced school atmosphere, and fewer illnesses” (124). In other words, the list of the benefits includes changes in almost all areas that affect the mental and physical health of adolescents. In addition, Emily Richmond, in her article “Why School Should Start Later in the Morning”, argues, “Schools also saw the decrease in … substance abuse. Some even had a dramatic drop in teen car crashes” (1). In other words, even those areas that seemed not very connected to change in the sleep schedule had been affected by the change and in turn affected the lives of students.…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If school started later students would be more alert,focused,and ready to learn. They would be getting more sleep,”teenagers who regularly sleep eight to nine hours at night learn better” in school. That also results into “less tardy slips”,kids getting in fights or sustain”athletic injuries.” Sleeping well can also”help moderate their tendency towards risky…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Over 90 percent of teens are chronically sleep-deprived. Multiple researchers have seen that if you don’t get all that sleep you need those students are more likely to be overweight, to perform unwantedly academically, be anxious and have suicidal thoughts. Also Ziporyn Snider has said that it has been proven that later school start times have a lot better chance for kids to learn better.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should School Start Later?

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fischetti writes, “A study released in February that tracked 9,000 high school students in three states show that grades in science, math, English, and social studies all rose when school began at 8:35 or later,” (Fischetti). Students all over America could be doing better in school if we only just let them get the amount of sleep that they need. In conclusion, the reader can see that there is factual proof that a later school start times helps academically, and also…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “educationnext.org” States that students that started school an hour later scored two percentile points better on a standardized test than the students that started an hour earlier. Also, more than a quarter of teens reported that they fall asleep during school. If students who started school later’s percentile increased by at least two percent than, American Academy students could also improve their test scores just by starting school a little bit later. If American Academy starts later, their students may see growth in academic…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has become troublesome and confusing to me as to why our local school district would require children in intermediate school (10 to 12 years old) to start school at 7:40 a.m. Please note that this is their start time and doesn’t include their actual wake up time, prep time and travel to school. As I began to research this more in depth I was stunned to find the numerous effects and potential effects in relation to academics, physiological and the emotional distress it could have on students. My wife and I also reached out to other students’ parents and became even more intrigued as that they shared the same concerns and problems they recently were seeing in their own children. I honestly believe when something becomes more personal…

    • 1825 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although technology usually takes the blame when one does not receive a healthy amount of sleep, there are many other responsibilities that throw a child’s or teens sleep schedule off. Both pros and cons are found in any suggestion. Gina Caimey states that when a school given the later starting time was observed over a certain period of time that the later start time, “increased math and reading scores by two to three percentile points.” (Caimey 13) An increase in percentile points after…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Everybody learns better when they are awake”(Carskadon). This quotation mentioned by Carskadon is true for everyone, whether it is adults, students, or kids. According to the CDC, 5 out of 6 high schools start class session way too early, or else before 8:30 am. With the benefit of school starting later, students would get more sleep, their physical and mental activities would improve dramatically, and their mental state of being would be overall more focused. Students should start at a later time in the morning because kids learn much better when they have a good night’s sleep.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Have you ever been in class and just wanted to fall asleep because of how tired you are? There was a recent investigation taken among the National Sleep Foundation and they concluded that 60% of students expressed with the dissatisfaction of being tired during the school day according to their parents. When students wake up early every day for school it can cause depression because it is altering their biological sleep cycle. Not getting enough sleep can heighten your chances of getting even more diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. School should start later in the morning for high school students.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If school starts later, students can have time in the morning to complete homework and to study. It incredibly benefits students with below-average test scores since they have an opportunity to study extra. Therefore, they can score higher and be less prone to failing. A sleep expert named Paul Kelley from the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford noticed an increase in test scores when school started later in the morning. School districts all over the US have seen the changes and have started to revise their school times and made them later therefore, students can improve and focus on their academics.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Later School Start Times

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    People worldwide are concerned about schools starting too early in the day and have been debating about the benefits of later school start times. Every weekday, students must face the struggle of waking up early to get ready for school without getting enough sleep the night before. Schools starting at a later time during weekdays would allow students to have extra time to sleep in the morning and be more alert and focused. This can result in less sleep-related car accidents and tardies. It can also provide opportunities for students to succeed in school because studies show that alert students are more willing to study and understand concepts than if they were tired.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When a student gets the right amount of sleep, they will be more awake and engaged in the activities around them. Being stuck in a seat for 80 minutes can be boring. And trying not to fall asleep is a full time job without the proper hours of sleep. With school starting later, you can avoid being late, too. You would have enough time to get what you need and still get to school on time.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, part of the reason why students don't get enough sleep is because they are up late studying. You can't expect students to come home from school, study, eat dinner, do their homework and then go to bed right away. Teenagers need to watch TV, talk to their friends, and run errands after school. We aren't machines; we need fun in our lives. With an extra hour of sleep, we will be refreshed and ready to learn for our first couple of classes.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics