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Have you ever wondered why high school and university students always seem to be tired? The answer might surprise you. It's not just about staying up late or a lack of willpower; it's about the fundamental way our bodies and brains are wired. School needs to start later, and here's why.
Sleep is the cornerstone of our cognitive and physical health, yet it's often overlooked. To understand the impact of school start times, we must first delve into the science of sleep. Before a baby is even born, and up to around the first year of life, infants spend most of their time in REM sleep, a stage crucial for building neural networks. But as we grow, there's a shift to non-REM sleep, which fine-tunes our brains, making them more efficient and effective.
This non-REM sleep is vital for critical thinking, reasoning, and cognitive skills. Ironically, this development occurs from back to front, starting with visual and spatial perception and ending with critical and rational thought in the frontal lobe. This is why it sometimes feels like teens' brains aren't quite keeping up with the rest of their development.
But what happens when non-REM sleep is minimized or removed? Studies on mice and cats deprived of sleep show that brain development is halted. In teenagers, a reduction in non-REM sleep can lead to developmental brain abnormalities and mental illness. And to top it off, teens need more sleep than adults. So, if they're not getting enough hours, they're missing out on the optimal amount of non-REM sleep.
Now, you might be wondering, "How does this correlate with school start times?" It's not just about the amount of sleep; it's also about the timing. Puberty brings a shift in our circadian rhythm, the internal clock that controls our sleep-wake cycle. Before puberty, kids tend to have an early schedule, but as they hit adolescence, they want to stay up later. Asking a teenager to go to bed at 10 PM is akin to asking an adult to go to bed at 7 AM. And waking up at 7 AM for a teen is like waking up at 4 AM for an adult.
So, what's the solution? Experimental evidence suggests that later start times can lead to improved class attendance, reduced behavioral and psychological problems, decreased substance and alcohol abuse, and better grades. Schools that have adopted later start times have seen a significant shift in student performance.
But it's not just about non-REM sleep. REM sleep is also crucial. Depriving young adults of REM sleep can lead to signs of psychosis, anxiety, and moodiness. And life expectancy has been shown to increase with later start times. In one Wyoming county, changing the start time from 7:25 AM to 8:55 AM resulted in a 70% decrease in traffic accidents among the affected age group.
The socio-evolutionary theory suggests that the shift in circadian rhythms during adolescence allows for gaining independence from parents in small increments. Only a century ago, most schools started around 9 AM, and students woke up without an alarm. Now, 80% of schools in the US begin before 8:15 AM, and 50% start before 7:20 AM. Combine this with the increasing impact of screens in the bedroom, and it's no wonder kids are more tired than ever.
In conclusion, later start times around 9 AM are not only preferred by students but lead to improvements in every metric we measure in school. Sleep is not just a luxury; it's a necessity for our intellectual capacities and physical health. Let's work together to ensure that our schools prioritize sleep and give our youth the opportunity to flourish.
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