Schools often push their students to perform at their academic best, yet most ignore one of the biggest factors for improvement: sleep. Teenagers should be getting at least eight to 10 hours of sleep a night, but most are unable to allocate the time to it. This has a heavy impact on students’ abilities to learn and focus in school. Changing the Berkeley High School start time to 9:30 a.m. from Tuesday to Friday would help align teenagers with their natural sleep schedules, which would help students focus in school and improve their overall health.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to go to sleep earlier than a certain time,” Lucia Sweet Fuentes, a sophomore at BHS, said. “So even if I'm in bed earlier, I don't actually fall asleep till later. I get about the same amount of sleep every night and it’s just not enough.”
Circadian rhythms start to slow down when puberty hits, affecting teenage brains by around two hours. This causes them to have trouble falling asleep earlier and waking up early. Because of melatonin production, a teenager who wakes up at 7:00 a.m. is like the equivalent of a grown adult waking up at 4:00 a.m.
This problem is even more emphasized for students who take zero periods. Attending class at 7:26 a.m. for zero period may mean waking up at 6:00 a.m. Sleeping late and waking up early causes many teenagers’ circadian rhythms to fall out of sync, which can lead to insomnia and narcolepsy. If school were to start an hour later, it would be easier for students to wake up and get to school on time, as well as prevent possible sleep disorders.
Changing the school start time would make students more focused and engaged in classrooms. Students’ attention levels would be higher in the morning if school started at a later time. Attention also plays a big part in students who drive to school. When school start time was delayed from 7:55 a.m. to 8:25 a.m., car accidents in 16 to 19-year-olds also decreased by 65 to 70 percent.
Because a regular school day would end at 4:30 p.m. instead of 3:30 p.m., some argue this change would interfere with after-school commitments. Although there is less time to do activities, students would be more confident and focused during the fewer activities they could do. Studies have shown that lack of sleep leads to trouble making decisions, solving problems, and controlling your emotions and behavior, all of which affect one’s ability to participate and learn.
Being able to get adequate sleep has a heavy impact on the health of all BHS students. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, sleep affects your hormone balance,
decreases your risk of health problems, supports your growth, and much more. By starting school later, students will be able to get more fulfilling sleep, which will therefore help support their health.
Students aren’t programmed to function at the crack of dawn. A later start time wouldn't just allow students to get more sleep, it would set them up for a successful future. By changing the clock by an hour, our student body would be more productive, engaged, and energized in classrooms.