Sleep deprivation is a factor that negatively affects much of the US population, and a key group affected by lack of sleep are high school students. High school is a time of tremendous growth for students, and adequate sleep is a key component in the healthy development of teens. Adequate sleep is essential for proper physical and emotional development. There is overwhelming data supporting the need for students to get more sleep, and some school systems have heeded this information, shifting their start times later. California is the only state which has passed legislation mandating later middle school and high school start times. NJ has lagged behind on this issue until just recently when NJ legislators Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and state Senator Vin Gopal proposed a bill this past week that would require NJ high school classes to start at 8:30 a.m. or later, commencing in the 2024-25 school year.
Scientific Evidence
Lack of sleep in students has been shown to negatively impact them from an academic standpoint as well as from a mental health viewpoint. Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of later school start times. One study in Minnesota showed that changing a high school’s start time from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. resulted in less depression, less fatigue, and improved attitude towards school. The scientific evidence was so convincing that in 2014, the American Pediatric Association recommended an 8:30 am start time for high schools and middle schools to ensure sufficient sleep for students. Despite this, few have adopted later start times. In 2019, California became the first state in the country to mandate later start times when Governor Newsom signed legislation requiring public middle schools to start classes at 8:00 a.m. or later and public high schools to begin classes at 8:30 a.m. or later. If NJ passes legislation to also shift school start times later, this will be a boon to local students, and hopefully additional states nationwide will follow suit.
Circadian Rhythms
Teens require about 8-10 hours of sleep; the majority of teenagers, estimated to be about 72%, do not get enough sleep. One reason why teens in high school do not get enough sleep is because their natural circadian rhythms, which dictate when they become sleepy, are not in synchrony with school schedules. They do not get sleepy at an early time due to a phenomenon known as “sleep phase delay.” This is the shift in time that their bodies get sleepy, which is a time pushed back about 2 hours compared to when they were in middle school. This means they have difficulty falling asleep at earlier times. This, coupled with early school start times, means that they are falling short of the recommended 9 hours of sleep each night. Having start times which are too early contributes to students being chronically sleep deprived, which can lead to adverse effects from both an academic and psychological standpoint.
Other Factors
Other reasons why students don’t get enough sleep include over-involvement in extracurricular activities and distractions like phones, computers, and TV. Tips to minimize distractions are to remove phones from rooms and avoid using phones in the several hours prior to bedtime. The same is true for avoiding computers, as both phones and computers can emit bluelight, which disrupts circadian rhythms. One solution is using bluelight glasses, which can block 40-80% of bluelight.
Academic Effects
Poor sleep is known to result in impaired concentration, which can impact learning and testing. Sleep positively affects learning and memory, with studies showing that well-rested individuals perform better on tests. Therefore, it can be counterproductive to stay up too late studying for an exam, as the fatigue and long term sleep loss can limit one’s ability to focus, recall information, and problem solve. Studies have demonstrated that students who take exams in the early morning do worse than on ones taken later in the day. One study showed that pushing a school start time one hour later can positively impact standardized test scores equal to decreasing the class size by one-third.
Psychological and Health Effects
Lack of sleep can result in mood disorders and general irritability. It is hard to feel good when one is sleep deprived. Studies have also shown that lack of sleep can worsen already present mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. In addition, teens who sleep less than 6 hours a night have increased risks of suicidality. One study showed that sleep deprivation led to increased anger issues in males. In females, sleep deprivation typically manifests as confusion, lack of energy, and fatigue. Sleep deprivation can interfere with the production of hormones that regulate appetite, leading to obesity as sleep deprived individuals tend to crave fatty foods and feel less satisfied by food. In addition, sleep deprivation has been linked to diabetes and to increased motor vehicle accidents due to fatigue.
Conclusion
Sleep deprivation is prevalent in high school students, and early start times exacerbate this by forcing kids to get up earlier than they are biologically wired to. Pushing school start times later is a step that has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Later school start times have been shown to improve academic performance and reduce the incidence of psychiatric diagnoses such as depression and anxiety. NJ legislators are proposing bills to make the start times for high schools no earlier than 8:30 by 2024. This is a step in the right direction and these later start times will hopefully be adopted not only by NJ, but also by more states across the country, leading to happier and healthier high school students.
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