Rylee Charnisky

College Comp 1

Mrs. Cramer

13 March 2017

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go!

Waking up too early is like getting hit by a school bus;1 it makes someone feel like a pile

of feces.2 The time that schools start in the morning commonly affects students in various ways.

In recent studies, it has been shown that starting school at a later time would help make students

less tired, irritable, and uncooperative. Researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical

School and the University of Nevada, Reno reported that students could improve their learning and have

fewer health problems if schools accommodated the unique day-to-day rhythms of young peoples lives.

The times that schools start in the morning does in fact have a direct effect on students learning. Schools

should start at a later time because it improves students health, students grades, and gives students the

full 10 hours of sleep needed.

To start with, it effects students health mostly because of the lack of sleep. The first rays of the

morning sun tiptoes through the windows3 and wakes up high school students too early for school. The

lack of sleep that students receive can cause many different health problems amongst students. Sleep

deprivation can lead to higher risk of chronic health problems such as high blood pressure, heart

1 Simile: comparison using like or as

2 Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration

3 Personification: the attribution of a personal or natural human characteristic to

something nonhuman
disease, and stroke. According to Harvard Medical School, for people with hypertension, one

night without enough sleep can cause elevated blood pressure all through the next day. Sleep

deprivation can likewise lead to weight gain. Several studies have linked deficient sleep and

weight gain. For example, studies have shown that people who habitually sleep less than six

hours per night are much more likely to have a higher than average body mass and that people

who sleep eight hours have the lowest BMI. Sleep is now being seen as a potential risk factor for

obesity along with the two most commonly identified risk factors: lack of exercise and

overeating. Research involved in regulating metabolism and appetite are beginning to explain

what the connection between sleep and obesity might be. One more effect on the body that sleep

has is that it effects mood which is extremely beneficial to the health of students. Given that a

single sleepless night can cause people to be irritable and moody the following day, it is

imaginable that chronic insufficient sleep may lead to long-term mood disorders. Chronic sleep

issues have been correlated with depression, anxiety, and mental distress. In one study, subjects

who slept four and a half hours per night reported feeling more stressed, sad, angry, and mentally

exhausted. This proving, if school started a couple hours later than the normal time right now, it

would be extremely beneficial to the health of the students attending.

In addition, by forcing students to get up too early for what they are normally used to, schools are

restricting the time available for sleep and causing severe and chronic sleep loss. Forcing students to wake

up earlier than they should could result in poor communication, decreased concentration and cognitive

performance and/or functions, periodically dosing off, decreased motor performance, increased risk

taking and changes in mood pattern, specifically causing depression. Generally, most schools start at

7:30-8:00. Researchers found that by delaying school start times by just one hour, it would increase

standardized test scores by at least 2 percentiles in math and 1 percentile in reading (Edwards).
 Moreover, school start times have a major effect on the academic end of it as well. As

stated, the effects of changes in start times are large enough to be substantively important. For

example, the effect of a one-hour later start time on math scores is roughly 14 percent of the

black-white test-score gap and 85 percent of the gain associated with an additional year of

parents education. The study also finds that later middle school start times are associated with

reduced television viewing, increased time spent on homework, and about 25 percent fewer

absences. The benefits of a later start time are seen particularly among students ages 13-16 and

appear to persist through at least the 12th grade. Students whose middle schools started one hour

later when they were in 8th grade continue to score 2 percentile points higher in both math and

reading when tested on those skills in grade 10. The studys finding that the start time effects are

pronounced beginning at age 13 is consistent with the theory that hormonal changes in

adolescence make it difficult for students to get enough sleep when school starts early. It may be

argued that, If school starts at a later time, students still will have the same attendance rate and academic

rate. That is proven to be fallacious. The study in previous research says that additional sleep boosts

psychological, behavioral, and academic benefits for teens. It also would make the attendance and

graduation rate skyrocket. For example, the average graduation completion rate was 79 percent before the

delayed start amongst schools started, and it was 88 percent afterwards. Delayed bell times make

students more likely to catch the bus or get up out of bed on time. When students arrive at schools the

time they are supposed to, instead of sleeping in past two or three periods, they are more than likely to

stay in class and focus on the content to graduate.

Additionally, another argument that may come about in trying to delay all school times around

the nation may be, That would change the normal times for after school activities such as sports and

clubs which could lead to the same lack sleeping problems. As that may be true, it still would not have
much of an effect on students. Research has shown that in most teens, it is impossible to go to bed at an

earlier time. Teens are driven by biology to go to sleep at a later time. By that, it shows that the

afterschool activities would not be a vast deal to most of the students if they got done with a sports

practice at 8 P.M. on a school night and could head to bed around 9:30-10 oclock. On average, a teen is

recommended to get 9-10 hours of sleep. With such early school start times and the biology of teens not

being able to get to bed at a reasonable time, it is almost impossible to get more than 8 hours of sleep at

night. They mainly get around 5 or 6 hours.

In conclusion, all research found significantly explains why schools should put back their start

times at least an hour. When it comes to the health of the students, it is apparent that later start times

would benefit them in the long run. Students grades would also be considerably improved with the

change in school start times. Lastly, sleep deprivation in high school students would be greatly diminished

if schools were to change their start times. It is proven that later school times would greatly benefit the

general performance of high school students in and out of their education. Overall, schools should start at

a later time because it improves students health, students grades, and gives students the full 10 hours of

sleep needed.