In Pen Argyl Area High School, students are required to be at school and mentally prepared to learn at 7:30. The majority of students are not well rested at a time this early in the morning. In a poll given by the National Sleep Foundation, eighty percent of the students believed that school should not start any earlier than eight, while only seventeen percent thought school should start before seven. Many high school students are opposed to the start time of 7:30. School’s beginning time should be pushed back to 8:30 because students need more sleep to be able to focus, their grades will improve with more sleeping time, and there will be an increase in their health.
If the starting time of school is pushed back an hour, students will be more …show more content…
It has been proven in a study performed by the National Sleep Foundation that out of the teenagers who say they are unhappy, seventy-three percent do not get enough sleep. Also, according to a study done in 2010 by the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, each hour that is lost of sleep will give a person a thirty-eight percent higher risk of feeling depressed or hopeless. Besides the dangers of putting teenagers in emotional distress, there are real problems caused by sleep deprivation that could develop. In a study done by the University of Adelaide, eleven percent of adolescents suffer from insomnia. This is a major problem on its own, yet it could lead into depression or anxiety. Putting teenagers in this sort of position is not worth it for having school start at 7:30, when it could be avoided by having it start at 8:30. Along with these mental health risks, there is also a concern for physical health. The students who are only sleeping for six hours a night are at a higher risk of getting a cold compared to those who are well rested. Being more susceptible to sickness will lead to many absences, and this causes the student to fall behind in school. It may not seem like a major problem for a student to catch a cold every once in awhile, but there are also long term health effects that are not easily spotted. The sleepiness that is felt in the daytime will stimulate cravings and make a person overeat. Being sleep deprived makes teenagers more likely to indulge themselves in fatty foods when they experience these cravings. Researchers at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina have discovered that students at age sixteen who do not get enough sleep are twenty percent more likely to become obese by age twenty-one. Gaining an extra hour of sleep per day will assist teenagers in making better choices in regards to their
If the starting time of school is pushed back an hour, students will be more …show more content…
It has been proven in a study performed by the National Sleep Foundation that out of the teenagers who say they are unhappy, seventy-three percent do not get enough sleep. Also, according to a study done in 2010 by the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, each hour that is lost of sleep will give a person a thirty-eight percent higher risk of feeling depressed or hopeless. Besides the dangers of putting teenagers in emotional distress, there are real problems caused by sleep deprivation that could develop. In a study done by the University of Adelaide, eleven percent of adolescents suffer from insomnia. This is a major problem on its own, yet it could lead into depression or anxiety. Putting teenagers in this sort of position is not worth it for having school start at 7:30, when it could be avoided by having it start at 8:30. Along with these mental health risks, there is also a concern for physical health. The students who are only sleeping for six hours a night are at a higher risk of getting a cold compared to those who are well rested. Being more susceptible to sickness will lead to many absences, and this causes the student to fall behind in school. It may not seem like a major problem for a student to catch a cold every once in awhile, but there are also long term health effects that are not easily spotted. The sleepiness that is felt in the daytime will stimulate cravings and make a person overeat. Being sleep deprived makes teenagers more likely to indulge themselves in fatty foods when they experience these cravings. Researchers at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina have discovered that students at age sixteen who do not get enough sleep are twenty percent more likely to become obese by age twenty-one. Gaining an extra hour of sleep per day will assist teenagers in making better choices in regards to their